Dimapur: Two persons were shot at by unknown persons here in two separate incidents related to extortion in the last 24 hours.
A 45-year-old woman was shot at in Nepali Basti here at about 6am on Friday. The victim, identified as Rekha Das, wife of late Babul Das, is the owner of a local restaurant.
The miscreant reportedly came in an autorickshaw and demanded cash from a shop near the woman's restaurant in the commercial hub of the city.
Sources said he and Das had an altercation, following which he shot at her and fled the scene. Das, who received a bullet in her abdomen, was rushed to a private hospital here. She is said to be out of danger.
In another incident, at around 4.30pm on Thursday, a petty grocery shopowner was shot at in Kuda village, Nagarjan. The victim, Joy Chandra, 41, is a tenant of former governor and former Nagaland chief minister S.C. Jamir's son Among. The shopowner is undergoing treatment in a private hospital here and is stated to be out of danger.
No arrests have been made.
The NPF's minority wing vehemently condemned the attacks. Bishnu Bhattacharjee, president of the NPF minority wing (central Nagaland) said, "Both the incidents in which the unidentified gunmen tried to take the lives of Joy Chandra Shil and Rekha Das are equally condemnable." He wished them a speedy recovery.
The NPF press bureau said in a statement: "These shootings could either be due to business rivalry or related to extortion by undesirable elements. The government should immediately put its foot down and bring the culprits to book without any delay lest it, the government, be construed to have ushered in a change for the worse in society."
There seems to be no let up in extortion cases in the state.