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Alipurduar, Feb. 1: A trader was shot at when he resisted a purported bid by two armed motorcyclists to abduct him at Ghoramara in Alipurduar subdivision last night.
The 37-year-old Kumar Newar suffered injury in the lower portion of his back and is stable after the bullet was removed from the body at the Alipurduar subdivisional hospital.
After the attack, the two men — both were carrying revolvers — fled in the direction of Lower Assam, which is 12km from Ghoramara.
Newar was about to close his grocery shop around 8pm yesterday when two men came on a motorcycle. They asked the trader to accompany them and when he refused, they tried to drag him away. Newar’s younger brother, Bhimbahadur, who also runs a grocery shop in the locality, came out hearing the commotion.
“I rushed towards my brother along with my friends. They struck his head with a revolver and fired five rounds. Only one bullet hit him and others missed. The attackers fired several rounds in the air when they were fleeing on the motorcycle,” said Bhimbahadur.
He added that the siblings had received a letter five years back demanding Rs 1 lakh. “We are not that rich. I don’t know why they tried to kidnap my brother.”
A section of police believes the gang is part of a militant outfit and their motive was to kidnap Newar and ask for a ransom. Akash Magharia, the additional superintendent of police, Alipurduar, said the attack was carried out by the same gang that had tried to kidnap another businessman at Paglarhgat in September.
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