Notorious gangster Ashok Rathi was gunned down by three assailants known to him at his house in Gurugram's Alipur village. The incident occurred on Saturday morning.

According to a senior police official, the attackers went around 8.00 am to Rathi's house and fled after shooting him.

"Rathi was admitted to a private hospital by his relatives where he died during the treatment in the evening. The attackers had fired a total of six rounds on Rathi and he was hit by five bullets. He received gunshot injuries in his chest, hand and near his ear," said the senior police official.

According to sources, Rathi had a dispute with the accused over sharing of money through gambling, which led to the murder.

Rathi, who recently came out of jail on parole, was charged with as many as 46 cases of murder, attempt to murder, dacoity, loot and kidnapping under different police stations across Haryana, Delhi and Meerut in Uttar Pradesh. He had been serving a life-term for the murder of his mother-in-law and brother-in-law.

The three assailants were identified as Narender alias Sonu, Rohit Dagar alias Boby of Alipur village and Saleem of Hariahera village in Gurugram.

Apart from these three assailants, the victim's brother Mahesh has also pointed out the involvement of Lilu Dagar of Hariahera village. He alleged that the assailants eliminated Rathi at the behest of Dagar.

An FIR in connection with the incident has been registered by Mahesh at the Bhondsi police station. In his police complaint, he stated that "Narender, Rohit and Saleem came at their home and was talking with Ashok about 10 to 15 minutes. Thereafter, the trio opened fire six rounds on Ashok."

"After hearing the gunshots, Naveen a relative of the victim rushed to the spot and found Rathi lying in a pool of blood by then the accused fled from the spot. Soon after the incident, Rathi was rushed to the hospital," Mahesh stated in his police complaint.

"The body has been kept in the mortuary. The actual reason behind the incident yet to be known. The probe team is also scanning the CCTV footage of the incident. A case of murder and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered at Bhondsi police station and hunts are on to nab the absconding criminals," said Assistant Commissioner of police (crime) Preet Pal Singh said.