Bricks in front of Shailaja Apartment mark out the spot where Najimul Islam was shot dead. Picture by Eastern Projections

Guwahati, Jan. 2: An affluent Guwahati-based businessman facing investigation for forgery and dealing in stolen cars was shot dead in front of the gate to his apartment building early today.

Najimul Islam, 41, was returning home from a New Year party after dropping a woman friend at her residence when he took two bullets, fired from point-blank range, on his head. The watchman at Islam’s Narikal Bari apartment building told police that he saw an unidentified man getting into a car parked at a distance and speeding off after the shots were fired.

The police said the killers, assuming there was more than one, tailed Islam all the way from his automobile workshop, Phoenix Automobiles, at Suruj Nagar in Six Mile. When they finally shot him dead, it was 2am.

Sujata Pathak, the woman whom Islam escorted to her residence in bylane number 9 of R.G. Baruah Road in his Maruti Swift, was picked up for questioning later in the day.

Additional superintendent of police (city) Debojit Deori said an empty .32 bore cartridge case was found at the murder site. “It appears he was shot with a .32-bore pistol.”

On what could be the motive for the murder, a member of the investigation team from Geetanagar police station said the needle of suspicion pointed to a land-related dispute or business rivalry. “We have found nothing to suggest the involvement of any militant group.”

Islam used to live in Shailaja Apartment alone, having been estranged from his advocate wife Nazrana Ahmed for several years. Nazrana stays in Dibrugarh with her parents and two sons.

What has made the murder case complicated is Islam’s reputation as a wheeler-dealer fond of the good life.

“Cases were registered against him at some police stations in the city for allegedly selling the same plot of land to more than one party through fraudulent means. He had as many as 32 cases, including for car theft, against his name,” a source said.

Islam would bring cars from the metros, mainly New Delhi, and sell them in Guwahati. Apart from dealing in used cars, he had a stake in the property business and used to broker land purchase and sale.

Although there was no witness to his murder, the police surmised that Islam got down from his Swift car to ask the watchman of Shailaja Apartment to open the main gate when the assailants opened fire.

“I heard two sounds similar to a cracker burst. I rushed to the main gate and saw him lying beside his car. I also saw a person hurriedly getting into a black or dark blue car that may have been either a Maruti 800 or an Alto,” the watchman, Gyanada Choudhury, told the police.