Bombay tense after shooting

NEW DELHI - A leader of India's right-wing Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party was shot dead outside his suburban Bombay home yesterday by five unidentified gunmen who riddled him with bullets, writes Tim McGirk.

A party spokesman said the murder of Ramdas Nayak, the BJP's Bombay chief, was 'politically motivated'. But Maharashtra state police are also investigating the possibility that he was killed for crossing an underworld gang. Many shopkeepers pulled down their shutters in several Bombay districts, fearing the killing could trigger riots between Hindus and Muslims.

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