MUMBAI, May 29: A 35-year-old man was shot dead today morning by six unidentified men at Dockyard Road. The police said Prakash Salve, working with a courier service, was shot dead at around 7.45 am at Babu Genu junction, Dockyard Road.

The police are searching the two assailants who opened fire at Salve on the basis of their description given by Salve's friend, an eye-witness to the attack.

Salve and his friend were walking down the road when a white Maruti car approached them. Two out of the six men travelling in the car got down and attacked Salve. One of them fired a bullet in the air to create terror, the police said. The other assailant fired two bullets using his pistol from a point-blank range, which hit the deceased on the head and the chest. An injured Salve was rushed to Sir J J hospital, but was declared dead before admission.

Deputy commissioner of police (port zone) Madhu Shinde told Express Newsline a financial deal was possibly the cause of the attack. He could not ascertain if Salve had any links with the underworld and suspected that Salve's murder could be a supari killing. The police have so far not been able to establish any clue about the killers.

The Sewree police station has filed a case of murder and investigations are on.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.