LAHORE, Dec 19: A renowned corporate lawyer was shot dead outside his house in Block-L of Faisal Town on Monday night. Barrister Saleem Sehgal, 50, had just reached near his house when his car was intercepted by another car. Two or three men got off the car and opened fire on the lawyer, police quoted a locality security guard, Nasir, as saying. He said the attackers managed to escape.

The police said the attackers fired several shots on the lawyer. But Mr Sehgal got five or six bullet injuries while the rest hit his car, they added.

The guard said the lawyer lost control on the wheel after being shot and his car struck against the wall of a nearby graveyard. He was rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Senior police officers, including operations police chief Aamir Zulfikar Khan, who is also said to be a friend of the deceased, rushed to the spot. His spokesman said no motive of the murder had so far been known.

The police said Mr Sehgal had been representing high-profile clients, including the Zardari family. He had also been a candidate for Punjab advocate-general, they added.

The police would investigate the murder along these lines, an investigator said. He said the police wanted the lawyer’s brother, Naeem Sehgal, to be a complainant in the case. However, he said the deceased’s wife did not agree with it. Instead, she asked the police that she would herself be the complainant.

The body was sent to the city mortuary for autopsy. No case was registered.