At around 7 p.m. yesterday, a commission agent at New Subzi Mandi, Azadpur -- 33-year-old Ram Kumar -- was shot at by two gunmen outside his office. Both Kumar and his employee Vinod were injured. Passerby managed to catch one of the assailants, who was later identified as Ranbir. Two country-made weapons, four live rounds and two fired cartridges were recovered from the spot.

According to DCP (North West) Satyendra Garg, on being questioned, Ranbir revealed that he conspired with Ram Kumar's business rival Bhagat Singh alias Bhagata to polish him off. For this, he was to be paid several lakhs of rupees. He also told the police that he came here from Rohtak along with one of his associates on Thursday to commit the murder.

A resident of Ladod village in Rohtak district, 40-year-old Ranbir has a notorious past. He was first arrested for killing his father-in-law in 1989, as he suspected that his wife was having an affair with someone else. A Haryana court sentenced him to life imprisonment.

In 1996 Ranbir was out on parole and proceeded to commit a series of murders, kidnappings and daring robberies, said the police. He was subsequently imprisoned. On August 6, 1998, while being taken to Hisar, Ranbir escaped from judicial custody. What followed was a triple murder and a robbery-cum-murder.

The police said that on August 13, Ranbir and his associates shot dead two men -- identified as Dhanraj, Sant Lal -- and strangled one Raj Kumar to death in Beri district, Jhajjar, Haryana. The three bodies were later dumped in a well. Recently, he and his men were involved in a series of robberies, including one where they mugged and then shot at a car driver.