The Hindu : Front Page : AK-47s vs. service revolver

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Monday, Dec 01, 2008
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AK-47s vs. service revolver

Meena Menon

MUMBAI: Forty-seven-year-old head constable Mohan Shinde from Azad Maidan police station, near Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), can barely speak. He has deep shrapnel wounds in his stomach, which have perforated his intestines and his right leg is in plaster.

On Wednesday night around 10.30 p.m., he was on duty along with Additional Commissioner of Police Sadanand Date when he got news of the terrorist attack on CST.

“We got information that the terrorists were headed for Metro cinema which is down the road and we rushed there,” said Shinde who could not speak till Sunday morning.

He, along with four other men, learnt the two attackers had gone to Cama hospital which is just before Metro cinema.

“We ran up the stairs chasing them. I only had my service revolver and these men had AK-47s. They saw us coming up and fired at us. We could not see from where the firing was coming. There were no lights,” said Shinde from his hospital bed.

Shinde has been with the police force since 25 years. The terrorists were on the terrace of Cama hospital and apart from firing they were lobbing hand grenades.

“We don’t really know what happened there. I was barely conscious at the end of it,” he added. Shinde is lucky to be alive after that devastating encounter. Two of his colleagues, who were with him that night, did not survive.Date too was severely injured in a grenade attack and it was to reinforce him that Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) head Hemant Karkare, inspector Vijay Salaskar and Additional Commissioner Ashok Kamthe went to Cama hospital. All three were killed in that attack.

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