Agra, Sep 17 (IANS): Prominent Agra jeweller Anand Agarwal was shot at and critically wounded by unidentified assailants on a motorcycle, prompting jewellers across this city of the Taj to strike work Monday, police said.

Agarwal, who is president of the Sarafa Committee, the jewellers' association, was attacked late Sunday near Anjna Cinema on MG Road. He was on his scooter, driving home to his Awagarh Colony house from his shop in Chaubeyji ka Phatak, the main centre of jewellers and bullion traders in the city, when the bullets were fired.

Passers-by informed the police, and he was rushed first to a nearby nursing home and later to Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon, bordering New Delhi, where he is battling for life.

Hari Parbat police said witnesses had informed them that three people on a black Pulsar mobike had fired at least two shots.

As news spread, a large number of jewellers and trade associations' office bearers reached the nursing home, shouting slogans against the police. "Agra businessmen are no longer safe. Even on the busy MG Road, people are shot," said an angry trader.

Agra has witnessed a large number of crimes in the recent past. In September alone, there have been more than 15 major crimes in the city.

A jeweller was looted in Awas Vikas colony Sep 1. Tourists to the city of the Taj Mahal have not been spared. An Austrian doctor's purse was snatched Sep 5, and the loss was reported at Rs. 1.5 lakh.

Showrooms have been burgled, and valuables have gone missing from temples. On Sep 8, a major watch showroom in Sadar Bazar was burgled, and watches worth Rs.50 lakh went missing.