The Hindu : National : Shock, disbelief on IISc. campus

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Thursday, Dec 29, 2005

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National

Shock, disbelief on IISc. campus

Rasheed Kappan

BANGALORE: "Baago beti [run, daughter]" screamed M.C. Puri, IIT Delhi professor, pushing two research students to safety as an armed intruder began spraying bullets all around on the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) campus here. Within seconds, Prof. Puri was dead, struck by a bullet.

Stunned by the sudden turn of events, IISc. students sat in the lobby of M.S. Ramaiah Hospital, where Prof. Puri's body was kept. Two injured victims, whose condition was said to be stable, were inside.

C.K. Jaggi, another participant of the international seminar hosted by the IISc., was still in a state of shock. "I saw one person running about 20 feet away. It was all dark, people were shouting and screaming," he said.

The participants were walking from the J.N. Tata Auditorium towards the Management Sciences Department for an Annual General Body Meeting. It was just after 7 p.m.

"I thought it was a fire cracker burst. But once we came out and saw three to four persons lying on the ground, bleeding, we knew it was something much serious," Dr. Jaggi said. In a couple of minutes, the police had been alerted and steps taken to rush the victims to hospital.

Dr. Jaggi had known Prof. Puri for years. After retirement, Prof. Puri was still active in the field of Mathematical Programming.

With Dr. Jaggi was Satish Goyal, a Ph.D. student from Delhi University. "Everyone was running after they heard the shots. One person came towards me shouting `shooting'."

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