The incident took place on Tuesday afternoon at Kodha village under Rajnagar police station area.

Shastri, the head of Bageshwar Dham, a religious centre, said he had nothing to do with Garg, and if found guilty, the latter should be punished according to the law.

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Superintendent of Police Rajat Saklecha said that police rushed to the spot after being alerted and admitted the injured man, Moti Kushwaha (30), to the district hospital.

As per Kushwaha’s complaint, he was at his home when Garg and three others called him out. As soon as he stepped out, he was attacked with sticks. They also fired at him, with one bullet grazing his ear, another his stomach, and a third his body.

He was scheduled to testify on behalf of Jugal Kishore Pandey in a land grabbing case against Shaligram Garg, and it led to the attack, Kushwaha told police.

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Doctors spotted a bullet-like object in his body in an X-ray image, the SP said, adding that a case has been registered against Shaligram Garg, Satish, Ashish, and another person under relevant sections of the BNS.

Dhirendra Shastri said that he had stated three years ago that Shaligram Garg had nothing to do with the family.

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“The entire world is my family. The entire society is my family. I live for society, for the nation, for Sanatan Dharma. Chhatarpur district and my family here are very large, so something or the other keeps happening. The law should punish (the guilty),” he said.

No arrest has been made yet, the official said.