Calcutta, Dec. 29 :    Calcutta, Dec. 29:  Fifty-three-year-old criminal-turned-businessman Pravas Dhara, alias Bapi, was killed by four youths, who pumped bullets into him while he was standing in front of his office in Dharmatalla Lane, in the Shibpur police station area, on Friday morning. Police said Dhara had been accused of killing two locals, Utpal Bhowmick and Debu Ghosh, a few years ago. He was arrested several times in the past few years on charges of extortion, murder and womanising and was out on bail. A couple of years ago, he had a miraculous escape when three men on a motorcycle fired at him. 'Dhara was a notorious gangster who extorted money from businessmen and terrorised women of the area in his heyday,' said a senior Shibpur police station officer. According to relatives, Dhara had returned from a business tour to Orissa a couple of days earlier to attend his nephew's birthday. 'He woke up early in the morning and was feeling giddy. So, he wanted to rest till afternoon, but remembered that he had to pay a couple of traders,' said Dulal Dasgupta, neighbour and close associate of Dhara. Dhara, whose office is hardly 100 yards from his residence, was standing in the narrow lane in front of the office when four young men approached him. Before he could realise what was happening, they rushed forward and pumped four rounds of bullets into his chest and face. Eyewitnesses said the killers, in their mid-twenties, were waiting for Dhara near a shop, about 100 yards from his office. As he slumped on the ground, the assailants turned around and got into a white Ambassador that was waiting nearby. Dhara was rushed to SSKM Hospital, where doctors declared him dead. Initial investigations revealed that Dhara's rivals were behind the attack. His one-time aides-turned-rivals, Khoka and Pasha, had recently been freed on bail. Police said Khoka had sworn revenge on Dhara, who had raped one of his relatives. Police suspect that someone who was aware of Dhara's whereabouts had tipped off his rivals. 'Not many people knew he had returned from Orissa to attend his nephew's birthday,' they said. 'His office and residence are connected by serpentine lanes and bylanes. It is impossible for an outsider to kill a person and flee if he doesn't know the area,' a Shibpur police station officer said.