DUBAI, Jan 20: A Dubai businessman of Indian origin who owned hotels and nightclubs in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and was reportedly a long-time associate of Mumbai underworld lord Dawood Ibrahim, was shot dead here in a Mafia-style contract killing.

Sharad Shetty, the owner of Two Dubai hotels — Regent Palace Hotel and the Regal Hotel — was the head of the Rami Group of Hotels and also had business interests in many restaurants, nightclubs and hotels in Abu Dhabi. Two unidentified men, reportedly in dark-colour suits, fled after pumping five bullets into his body on Sunday night in the India Club and in the presence of many eyewitnesses.

Police suspect that the murder was the result of a gang-war between the Indian criminal gangs.

“The crime is not an ordinary incident. It is an action of organized gangs who opted to solve their differences here in Dubai,” Maj-Gen Khalfan Tamim, Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police, told Gulf News. He was also quoted as saying that some members of the Indian community had become a source of trouble in the country.

According to some media reports, Shetty had problems with a south Indian underworld figure Muthappa Rai who was recently deported from Dubai. Gulf News reported that Shetty had a hand in Rai’s deportation and Rai’s wife and daughter had also been briefly detained on their arrival in the UAE.

The deputy police chief for criminal investigation, Maj-Gen Sharafuddin Sharaf, told reporters that the victim died on the spot and said a massive manhunt had been launched to arrest the killers.

Dubai police chief Gen Tamim says police will be very tough with those who could be a source of trouble. “This lesson will prompt us to review our policies in different aspects, including the facilities given to expatriates,” he warned.