Investigating officer, Inspector Vilas Pawar, said Jindran and Kiran Govardhan Pandey (20) stood talking near Regal Auto Stores opposite Najabhai Jewellers on S V Road at Khar, when two gunmen walked up to them and opened fire. The target obviously was Jindran as he was hit seven times in his head.

The assailants then turned to Pandey, who had by then slipped away and taken shelter in a garage, Jaya Automobiles, about 50 meters from where Jindran lay in a pool of blood. The gunmen followed him and fired three rounds at him. He was rushed to the Bhabha Hospital, where he was declared dead before admission.

Salim, a mechanic, who saw Pandey beingkilled, said he was hiding between a white Maruti car and a Black Fiat. However, he slipped while trying to run as the gunmen closed in. They fired at him as he lay sprawled on the ground. ``The gun shots were not very loud and sounded similar to Diwali crackers,'' Salim recalled.

Very little details are available with police about Kiran. A Science graduate from National College, Bandra, he has no police record. He was a resident of Jaibharat Society, 3rd Road, Khar, a short walk from where Jindran stayed. The two could have been known to each other as they lived in the same locality, police said. His sister told Express Newsline that Kiran was on his way to the Leelavati Hospital where his father underwent a bypass surgery two days ago.

A senior police officer attached to Zone VII stated that preliminary investigations suggest Jindran was killed for his involvement in the 1993 bomb blasts. ``One gang that immediately comes to mind, given its differences with Dawood Ibrahim over the blasts, is theChhota Rajan gang,'' he said. Jindran, a key accused (no 45) in the serial blasts was released on bail in 1995.

In the chargesheet, he has been accused of storing the deadly RDX explosives smuggled in by Yeda Yakub in a godown at Nagala Bunder in Thane district. Only a few months back another bomb blasts accused, Salim Kurla, was gunned down at an Andheri nursing home along with a friend, Arif Cablewallah. The police suspected Chhota Rajan's involvement in the Kurla killing as well.

However, sources disclosed that Jindran had wide interests in construction business too and his killing could be the fallout of a property dispute. A resident of Bhura Mansion, 5th Road, Khar, Jindran had recently acquired a property near Mehboob Studio in Bandra (west).

Meanwhile, it was business as usual on the Swami Vivekanand Road, which is lined with motor spareparts shops. Shopkeepers said they had seen nothing and many claimed their shutters were down when the firing took place.