 Online edition of India's National Newspaper Thursday, Dec 04, 2008 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version |
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MUMBAI: Wednesday, November 26, will be remembered by railway commuters as a wild gory night when two terrorists entered the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) and killed 56 people, apart from injuring 98. Around 8 p.m., Mohammad Ajmal Amir Iman and Mohammad Ismail reached the Mumbai coast at Budhwar Park in Cuffe Parade. From there they hailed a taxi to their target — the CST, a historic landmark in Mumbai. Eyewitnesses said that the terrorists first started firing near platform number 13, the main line area for long distance trains. The taxi stand is outside platform number 13. Bang opposite the platform is Re-Fresh food plaza. The glass façade of this restaurant bears eight bullet marks. Says chef Bharat Patel, “The firing started around 9.55 p.m. I saw two people and two to three children being shot. We all lay flat on the ground. I held a box in front of me to shield myself. One of the restaurant staff members was badly hurt.” The area outside the restaurant is an open space where passengers await their trains. On the floor, about 20 feet from the restaurant, are two grenade craters. After the grenade blasts, the terrorists could have gone towards the adjoining booking house. A motorman at CST shows how at ticket counters 26, 25, 21 and 20A wooden panels have replaced glass panes, which were shattered in the firing. There are bullet marks outside the office of the Head Ticket Collector and Senior Station Manager. Bullet holes are on the wall and a pipe too. This is also the spot where Assistant Chief Ticket Inspector S.K. Sharma fell to the terrorists’ bullets. Spray of bulletsIman and Ismail then moved ahead to another row of ticket counters, facing the Railway police station. A heavy spray of bullets downed railway police inspector Shashank Shinde. As stalls on the right were downing their shutters in panic, fate was against Chandulal Kashinath Tandel, a newspaper vendor, who was gunned down in the firing. Ticket counters 14, 15, 16, 17, 39 and 40 also have wooden panels. The attacker also fired inside the police station. The mayhem continued as the duo proceeded towards the local train platforms. BrainwaveO.M. Palli, a motorman on duty at the time, was hiding behind the door of the station master’s office. He noticed a train coming in on platform 4. He thought fast. “If the passengers get off the train, the terrorists would have sprayed them with bullets,” he says. Therefore, showing quick presence of mind, he ran up to the announcer Vishnu Zende and alerted him. “I told the announcer to say that the passengers in the train should not alight,” he says. After that, he stayed put in his hiding spot. In a quick phone call to his wife that night, he said: “If I am alive, I will talk to you.” No match for AK 47sSome police constables and home guards were retaliating with their rifles, but they were no match for the AK 47s. Assistant Sub-inspector (ASI) Sudam Aba Pandarkar (56) says, “I went to platform 6 and 7. With my rifle, I shot thrice. The terrorist fired straight at me. If I had a good firearm, I would have fired quickly. We have to keep loading our rifles,” he says from his hospital bed. It is from the local line that the terrorists fled, taking the bridge over platform one. Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria said that they used a human shield to cross the bridge and go to the Cama Hospital. A witness said: “They were blindly spraying bullets.”
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