British envoy shot dead in Bombay

Press, 28 November 1984, Page 10

British envoy shot dead in Bombay

NZPA-Reuter Bombay Britain’s Deputy High Commissioner in Bombay was shot dead yesterday as he drove to work. All Britons in Bombay were advised to stay indoors after the killing. A High Commission spokesman said that Percy Norris, aged 56, had been shot in the temple and heart S' '* after 8 a.m. as his sur drove him through rush-hour traffic to his office, in the centre of India’s main commercial city. The spokesman said all Britons had been advised to stay indoors. They included England’s cricket team, in Bombay for the start of the first test against India today. The players are confined to their hotel. A team spokesman said that talks were in progress with Indian officials to decide if the match should go ahead. Roy Carter, Acting Deputy High Commissioner, said that the Indian chauf-

feur had said he heard shots as the white Rover slowed at a traffic roundabout about 500 metres from the Deputy High Commission. He had turned round and seen Mr Norris slumped in the back seat. The driver, who was unhurt, had said that the two left-hand windows of the car were shattered by the bullets. The driver had sped through hundreds of office workers to the Deputy High Commission. Staff there had jumped into the car and it sped off on a 6km journey to the Breach Candy Hospital, the city’s top medical establishment. Its director, Dr P. B. Barucha, said that Mr Norris had been shot twice, in the head and in the chest. “He did not respond to treatment,” he said. Mr Norris, married with two children, took up his post in Bombay six weeks ago after an assignment in Dubai. He had served in the

Solomon Islands, Malaysia, Nigeria, Belgium, and the Philippines. In New Delhi the Indian Government expressed deep distress at the shooting and said that no effort would be spared to track down the killers. An External Affairs Ministry spokesman said that the Foreign Secretary (Mr M. K. Rasgotra, hao conveyed the Government’s condolence to the High Commissioner, Sir Robert Wade-Gery. An Indian Government spokesman said that security had been tightened at all British offices in the country. Security reinforcements were sent to the High Commission in New Delhi. The police were posted at the test cricketers’ hotel in Bombay. The last attack on a British diplomat in India was 20 years ago when David Brower, head of the British Information Service, was wounded in a knife attack by a disgruntled employee.