Khan's business partner Nizam Khan Moideen and an ice vendor Akram Rafi Mohammed Kausi were also killed in the bloody shootout. The injured have been identified as Khan's driver-cum-bodyguard Shakeel Khan and another employee Mohammed Rafi Qureshi. Also, injured is a seven-year-old school girl Sadika Salehmohammed Lakapatwalla, who was returning home after attending coaching classes. Sadika, who was admitted to Bhabha Hospital with a bullet injury in the right leg was discharged after treatment. The otherinjured were later shifted to KEM Hospital, where doctors attending to them said their condition was stable. Speaking to Express Newsline Additional Commissioner of Police (north-west region) Rakesh Maria, however, said that there were no eyewitnesses to the incident. Six empty cartridges were recovered from the scene of crime, he added. ``The exact number of rounds fired would be known only after a post-mortem report is received,'' Maria said.

According to police sources the Chhota Rajan gang, which has targeted bomb blasts accused in the past too, could be behind the bloody shootout. The Izaz Lakdawalla faction carried out today's shooting, the police suspect. The other bomb blast accused gunned down by members of the Chhota Rajan gang in the last 12 months are: Mohammed Yakub on March 23, Salim Kurla and Asif Mustaffa Cyclewalla at a hospital at Andheri on April 21 and Mohammed Jindran and his friend Krishna Pandey at a busy Khar junction on June 29.

Sources in the accommodation industry said the Khanwas involved in taking over slums and using the land to construct multi-storied buildings. He was developing eight plots in Naupada, which is predominantly a Muslim locality. Khan was arrested on April 14, 1993 in connection with the March 1993 serial blasts. His brother Yeda Yakub, who is still absconding, was one of the co-conspirators in the blasts along with Tiger Memon.