Bangalore, Jan 16 (DHNS) n what appears to be an outcome of a no-holds-barred gang rivalry, a JD(S) corporator was shot at and then knifed to death while he was about to get himself a haircut at Banashankari here on Sunday morning

Four associates of the slain corporator Haji Mohammad Ali, alias Diwan Ali, were injured in the incident and subsequent stabbings which happened around 11:30 am in full public view.

The four, identified as Kamaluddin, Umar, Zaheer and Pater Khaleem, have been declared to be out of danger, but the police said the four will be questioned to get to the bottom of the murder and trace the motorcycle-borne assailants identified as Ali, alias Afrooz, Shannu and Makdum.

The brutal murder of 37-year-old Ali puts the spotlight on the criminal-politician nexus and how crime lords have infiltrated local politics in Karnataka.

In the last elections to the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) in March 2010, there were at least 36 rowdy-sheeters or their close relatives who contested the polls. Of these, no less than five, whose relatives became corporators, have criminal records,
A gangster-turned-corporator, Ali, elected on a JD(S) ticket from the Banashankari Temple Ward (180), was allegedly involved in as many as 36 criminal cases, including murder, attempt to murder, extortion and robbery. Reacting to the murder of a party member, JD(S) state president and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, away in Britain as part of a parliamentary delegation, said: “Ali had confided in me that he feared for his life. I suspect political rivalry and a police hand behind the killing”.

Quoting eyewitnesses and after preliminary investigations, the police said, after meetings with his party associates and reading his morning prayers, Ali walked up to Nutan Hair Styles on Masjid-e-Quba Road in Yarabanagara, Banashankari 2nd Stage, for a haircut. He seemed to have played into the hands of a seven-member gang of assailants who sped up on two motorcycles and barked out his name.

As Ali spun around at the hairstylist’s gates, the gang members attacked him. Clad in a white kurta-pyjama and leather sandals, Ali ran into a narrow lane but his assailant chased and cornered him before one of them whipped out a pistol and fired two bullets––one pierced his chest while the scraped his left shoulder. To ensure his death, another attacker slashed his throat and stabbed him in his abdomen.

So quick was the attack that Ali could not take out his concealed weapon to return fire. The police are investigating whether his gun had a licence.

Kamaluddin’s right thumb was chopped off, while Umar was injured on his head and arms when he ran to Ali’s rescue. Kamaluddin, from Yarabanagar, and Umar, from Sarbandepalya, both auto painters are close friends of Ali's brother Nayaz, the police said.