Hit by eight bullets in the forehead and across the chest, Kazi Shahidullah, 46, died on the spot at around 1:40pm yesterday at South Bishil of Mirpur in the city.

As Prince rushed out hearing the firing and tried desperately to save his father, the three-member killer gang shot him in the abdomen, wounding him critically.

The entire suburb burst into furious protests against the monstrous act. Frenzied demonstrators smashed at least 25 vehicles, barricading Darus Salam, Mirpur Mazar and Bashil Bazar roads.

Shahidullah was an eminent businessman, chairman of Prince Group of Companies, and very popular in the area. He served on a number of Mirpur-based traders and co-operative associations as president, general secretary or some other office bearer.

His eldest son Kazi Tofazzel Hossain Prince, second-year higher secondary school student of Dhanmondi Ideal College, was admitted to Samarita Hospital after the gory incident.

Family members said the assailants, still unidentified, might have killed Shahidullah for refusing to pay up illegal tolls. Witnesses said all the three killers were young in age and fired at least a dozen bullets during the attack.

PROTEST ERUPTS IN MIRPUR
Thousands of locals took to the streets at the news. They poured out of houses, markets and mosques, blocked Darus Salam Road, Mazar Road and Bashil Bazar Road, and ransacked more than 25 vehicles.

The demonstrators took out several processions in Mirpur-1, shouting demands to arrest and punish the killers.

Troopers of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and a few hundred policemen including plainclothesmen rushed to the area and tried to diffuse the fury. They chased the protestors and also clubbed the mob when it started to break vehicles.

The police also placed barricades in front of the technical training centre on Mirpur Road, on Mazar Road and at Mirpur-10 roundabout, suspending vehicular traffic from 2:00pm to 5:30pm.

WITNESS ACCOUNT
It was around 1:40pm, when most of the devotees were still absorbed in offering Munajat at Baitul Mamur Jame Mosque at south Bishil after the Jumma prayer. Shahidullah came out of the mosque, as his cellphone was ringing frequently, said a devotee.

"Hearing several gunshots, I looked around and saw my uncle collapse on the road," Shahidullah's nephew Kazi Jamal Hossain, who was unlocking his motorbike near the mosque, said.

He said, "I saw three youths -- two of them were firing in the air while the third was shooting away point blank at the prone body of uncle."

Jamal saw Prince run amid the shooting towards his father to save him. When the assailants shot him in the abdomen, he took refuse, running into a nearby house.

Another witness named Akhteruzzaman Babu said, "When I saw the three goons shooting at Kazi Saheb, I immediately started to shout, 'hold them, catch them'. They then fled along the alley beside Sharmin Jewellers."

Babu said one of the three was tall and lanky, who was wearing a white shirt. The two others were shorter.

MURDER MOTIVE
Family members said for the last one and a half months some musclemen have been phoning Shahidullah, asking to give them extortion money from various local markets, as he was one of the top leaders of the market associations.

"The frequency of the telephone calls became so high in the last week that he changed his cellphone SIM," Kazi Belal Hossain, brother of the slain businessman, told The Daily Star.

He, however, could not say who have been making the calls.

"Shahidullah told me on Thursday that some criminals have been threatening him asking Tk 10 lakh in tolls," said an office bearer of Mirpur Mazar Co-operative Market committee. Shahidullah was its general secretary.

Hailed from Chandpur, Shahidullah lived at his Dhaka house at 165/1 South Bishil. He owned around 10 shops at various Mirpur markets including Prince Hotel and Restaurant, and Prince Bakery and Sweetmeats.

He was the president of Baishakhi Super Market committee, general secretary of Mirpur Mazar Co-operative Market committee and Udayan Samabaya Samity, and vice-president of Mirpur Al-Falah Samabaya Samity.

At least five businessmen have been killed in the city in the last one and a half months. Among them, businessman and Jubo Dal leader Sagir Ahmed was also gunned down soon after coming out of a local mosque on June 24.

Businessman and Awami League leader Kamrul Alam was killed inside his Jigatola office on July 2, Nadim Ahmed and Abdur Razzak were hacked to death at Gabtoli on July 29, and a clearing and forwarding agent was slaughtered at Sutrapur last week.