Mumbai: "My only desire is to gun down Dawood," said Farid Tanasha, a key lieutenant of gangster Chhota Rajan who was shot dead outside his Tilak Nagar residence on Wednesday.
Tanasha had led several teams to plan the killing of rival gangster Dawood Ibrahim at his Karachi hideout.
Eyewitnesses said Tanasha, who is married to the sister of Chhota Rajan's wife Sujata Nikhalje, was strolling in his building compound at the time of the incident.
Four assailants came in a car and sped off after murdering Tanasha. He died on the spot.
The building compound is guarded by four police-trained dogs and 10 private guards. In his earlier interview, Tanasha had said he would rather deploy canines for his security than have human beings guard him.
According to sources, the needle of suspicion points to rival gangster and Dawood Ibrahim's right-hand man Chhota Shakeel.
Joint Commissioner of Police Himanshu Roy confirmed the shootout, but refused to give details.
Soon after the shootout, local gangsters claimed the murder was the handiwork of Nepali, who had a fallout with the Rajan gang and Chhota Shakeel, a close lieutenant of Dawood Ibrahim.
Tanasha had earlier told MiD DAY that he was one of the main architects of the murder of Nepal's member of Parliament, Mirza Dilshad Baig who was killed in Kathmandu in 1998.
Following the death of Rajan's most-trusted lieutenant, Balu Dokre, Tanasha, who was the gang's de facto chief in Mumbai, supervised its day-to-day operations and its network across the country.
Tanasha operated from his apartment in building 71 in Tilak Nagar, not far from where he was born.