NEW DELHI: Gunmen dressed as lawyers shot dead a notorious Indian gangster inside a Delhi courtroom on Friday before police killed the two assailants, investigators said.

Jitendra Gogi, a mobster detained in March last year, was standing before a judge in the court when two men suddenly opened fire, police told AFP.

Witnesses told media said that about a dozen shots were fired inside the court. Gogi was hit multiple times before the fake lawyers were killed by specialist protection officers.

Media reports, quoting police, said the gunmen were from a rival gang.

Mobile phone videos of the shooting at the court in the Rohini district of Delhi showed lawyers and litigants running for cover in the corridor outside the court as gunshots rang out.

Gogi, who was about 30, had been linked to brutal gang battles, murders, robberies and extortion in Delhi and states across northern India.

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He was first arrested in 2016 but escaped from police custody, and had evaded capture until last year.

Gogi's violent reputation had made him a target for police and rivals, with media reports saying that other gangs were enraged at his moves into their territory.

Delhi police said after his arrest last year that Gogi was in a particularly bitter battle with a gang leader known as Tillu for control of regions in northern India.

Members of Tillu's gang disguised themselves as lawyers to enter the Delhi court on Friday, media reports said.

Questions are regularly raised about security in Indian courts. The Rohini complex often deals with cases linked to high profile criminals.