A cricket bookie and suspected member of D-company Ajay Gosalia alias Ajay Ganda was shot at by three unidentified assailants near the Infinity Mall at Malad in north Mumbai on Wednesday evening.

Gosalia, who sustained bullet wounds on his chest and hand, was rushed to nearby Zenith Hospital.Police said that Gosalia was standing near the Infinity Mall when three unidentified assailants arrived on the scene in an Innova car (GS 4792) around 4.30 pm, and fired at him.

Gosalia, who had in the past been arrested for extortion, rioting and betting, was allegedly a part of the Dawood Ibrahim gang. So much so that he had two years ago sought protection from the police on the ground that two assailants had attempted to open fire at him in the vicinity of a theatre located near the Borivli railway station.

He had told the police that he survived the attack, as the assailants could not open as their weapons got jammed. The city police had, however, turned down his request for security as they felt that his claim was a cooked-up story to seek armed protection.

In 2004, Gosalia was arrested for allegedly grabbing a prime plot on the Malad link Road. Gosalia, along with Chhota Shakeel henchman Iqbal Attarwala, had occupied a 2300 sq meter plot, owned by trader Ranchhodbhai Patel, and deployed his security, after assaulting the watchmen there.

later in 2008, Gosalia was arrested for allegedly threatening a builder Rajesh Mishra and demanding two flats in a slum redevelopment property that the latter was constructing at Kandivli in north Mumbai.