Kathmandu, April 11

A gangster was critically injured when a masked man opened fire at him in Nayabasti of Kathmandu-6 today.

According to police, the assailant, who came on foot, fired three shots at Dawa Lama, 32, of Kavre district and fled the scene at around 9:00am when the victim was entering the premises of a gymnasium of Divya Party Palace near Gaurighat for his morning workout. He was rushed to Nepal Medical College Hospital, Attarkhel, for treatment and has sustained two bullet wounds in the waist.

Police said his condition was critical but stable. Police have recovered three bullet shells from the site. The assailant has not been identified yet, but police suspected that the incident was connected to ‘gang brawl’. The broad daylight shooting occurs at a time when police have beefed up security for the May 14 local level elections.

A police official said a henchman of Ram Giri, a gangster under police watch, was suspected of firing shots at Lama, his rival, ‘to avenge a recent attack on him’. Lama had beaten Giri black and blue in a restaurant at Durbar Marg in February and was charged with attempted murder. Lama, also a repeat offender and gangster notorious for gang fight, extortion and social crimes, is an arch-rival of Giri.

The official claimed that police had identified the assailant and would soon nab him. Lama and Giri are among as many as 161 gangsters with substantial criminal record. The list was jointly prepared by Metropolitan Police Crime Division and Metropolitan Police Range, Kathmandu. Police had said that the listed ‘gangsters’ were under round-the-clock surveillance as they were likely to perpetrate crimes any time.

The gangsters had faced legal action for unleashing terror through their direct and indirect involvement in gang fights and extortion. Officials said they have intensified vigilance against hooligans, both old and emerging ones, to maintain law and order.Two notorious gangsters — Dinesh Adhikari alias Chari and Kumar Ghainte — were killed in police encounters in the last two years.