Coins in pocket deflect bullet, save man’s life

Coins in pocket deflect bullet, save man’s life

Bag-snatcher opens fire to scare away trio on his trail

Playing Good Samaritan could have cost him his life, but coins in his pocket saved him. South Mumbai resident Sanjay Mayekar, 44, who noticed a man chasing three others on Thursday morning did not think thrice before rushing to the man’s help. Little did he imagine that one of the three assailants would fire at him. Mayekar, was lucky to have escaped with minor bullet injuries. A businessman from Sindhudurg district, Pundalik Sawant, 48, who was in the city, was chasing the trio in Kumbharwada around 10.30am on Thursday. The assailants had snatched Sawant’s bag containing Rs40,000, said the police. Mayekar, who was busy helping out at a Navratri pandal in the locality, was alerted on hearing Sawant’s screams. “Mayekar, who joined in the chase, managed to catch hold of the man who was carrying the stolen bag. But that man pushed Mayekar to the ground and whipped out a country-made revolver and fired a round which missed him,” said an officer from JJ Marg police station which has jurisdiction over Kumbharwada area. The bullet, said the officer, ricocheted after hitting Mayekar’s wallet, which he had tucked into his rear pocket. “The coins in the wallet saved Mayekar,” said the police officer. In all the confusion, the accused fled, leaving behind the bag. But, it was later found that Rs 35,000 had been removed from the bag. Mayekar was taken to JJ hospital in Byculla, where he is undergoing treatment for the injuries he sustained. “We hope to get clues from closed circuit television cameras installed in the area... We have the description of the three men and are preparing their sketches,” said senior inspector Shashikant Surve, adding that a case of robbery has been registered against the unidentified men. Rs.10 coins in wallet save Vikhroli man from robber’s bullet MUMBAI: Shot at by one of the robbers he was chasing, a 44year- old man escaped with minor injuries as the bullet hit the Rs10 coins in his pocket and got stuck in his underwear.    Police inspect the spot where the firing occurred; (inset) injured Sanjay Mayekar.   According to the police, when Pundalik Sawant, 48, a Sindhudurg-based businessman, was on his way to the Gol Temple area in Null Bazaar, three unidentified men snatched his bag containing Rs40,000. Sawant raised an alarm and started chasing them. “Seeing the chaos, five volunteers of a Navratri mandal, too, started chasing the trio,” said Shashikant Surve, senior inspector, JJ Marg police station. When Sanjay Mayekar, 44, one of the volunteers, caught hold of one of the accused, he pulled out a country-made firearm. “Stunned, Mayekar tried to direct the firearm towards the ground,” he said. The bullet hit the ground and ricocheted. It hit his wallet in the back pocket of his trouser and got stuck in his underwear. “Only after Mayekar had a burning sensation, did he realise that the bullet had brushed past him,” said Dr Ravindra Shisve, deputy commissioner of police (Zone I). Mayekar is recuperating at the Sion hospital. The bag was found dumped at the spot where the firing occurred and Rs4,000 was recovered from it. The police suspect that the trio was following Sawant. The police are now preparing sketches of the attackers on the basis of the description given by Mayekar and Sawant. They are also scanning the CCTV footages of shops in the area to get further clarity on the incident. ‘My hobby saved my life’ Vikhroli resident Sanjay Mayekar, who suffered minor injuries after being shot at, feels that his hobby of collecting Rs10 coins saved his life on Thursday. The bullet hit the coins in his wallet in the back pocket of his trouser and got stuck in his underwear. Mayekar, a volunteer of the Bhandari Street Navratri Mandal, was making announcements on the public address system when the incident occurred. Narrating the incident, Mayekar said: “I saw that a man was running behind three persons and shouting for help. Seeing him in distress, I decided to help him and took four other volunteers with me. I was shocked when the accused pulled out the firearm.”