By Alang Bendahara

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA: A 45-year-old businessman was killed in a drive-by shooting by hired killers in Seri Kembangan yesterday.

The shooting also left a friend of the victim wounded in the left leg.

The businessman, only identified as K. Gunasegaran, was having a drink with two friends at a stall in Jalan Perusahaan 1 at 4.15pm.

While the three were talking, a motorcycle with two men wearing full-faced helmets passed by their table.

The pillion rider pulled out a semi-automatic pistol and fired four shots. Three of the bullets hit Gunasegaran in the torso, killing him instantly, while the fourth hit his friend, K. Subramaniam, 34, in the leg.

As other patrons of the stall fled helter-skelter, the assailants rode off.

Subang Jaya deputy police chief Superintendent Abdul Aziz Abdul Majid said the entire incident took less than a minute.

"We found four bullet casings at the scene and will be viewing the closed-circuit television camera recordings from a nearby bank," he said

Aziz said they would also interview other patrons of the stall and both friends of Gunasegaran.

Several of the deceased's family members who arrived later at the scene refused to comment, only saying that Gunasegaran lived in Balakong.

Gunasegaran's body was sent to the Serdang Hospital for a post-mortem, while his friend was warded at the same hospital where he underwent surgery.

Selangor Criminal Investigation Department chief Senior Assistant Commissioner II Hasnan Hassan said police would be comparing the case with other similar murders such as those in Seremban recently, to get more leads.

On Aug 29, debt collector Ananda Krishnan, 46, was shot at point-blank range by a masked gunman outside a restaurant in Taman Seremban Jaya at 10.45pm.

Six days earlier, former Simpang Renggam detainee Abdullah Ali, 42, was shot at a massage parlour at the Rasah Jaya flats.

Both shootings were believed to have been done by hired killers.