KUALA LUMPUR: The businessman who was shot by gunmen who fired more than 30 times at his vehicle died at the Damansara Specialist Hospital yesterday.

Vartharajan Navasivayam succumbed to a bullet wound in the head at 6.25pm, more than 28 hours after the shooting.

The bullet was the only one which struck him in the hail of gunfire.

He had initially been warded at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Hospital but the family transferred him to the private hospital several hours after the 2pm shooting.

Fearing that the gunmen might be brazen enough to make another attempt to kill him, police had posted two armed guards outside his hospital room. They had also requested for the press not to reveal which hospital Vartharajan was in.
Vartharajan, 43, had undergone a five-hour operation to remove the bullet which had lodged in the brain.

Vartharajan had just left his house at 2pm on Saturday when two cars pulled up alongside his vehicle. Gunmen in the cars fired more than 30 shots at him.

Vartharajan lost consciousness and crashed his vehicle into a roadside food stall.

Earlier yesterday, Vartharajan's sister, Geetha, said the family was shocked by the shooting.

"We are puzzled as to why anyone would want to harm my brother. He was a sociable and jovial man who had no enemies. Why would anyone want to kill him?"

Geetha, however, said the family believed business rivalry could be the reason Vartharajan was attacked, although they were not sure as her brother had never revealed much about his business.

Asked if her brother had received any threatening phone calls prior to the shooting, Geetha said he had not.

She said Vartharajan was involved in moneychanging, pubs and restaurants.