His family members are naturally cautious.``You know that Mumbai is getting unsafe...but you think that such things only happen to others. My brother was lucky the bullet hit him in his leg,'' says a visibly shaken Javed Siddiqui.

The incident has reinforced the family's growing belief that Mumbai is turning into a gangster's haven where the common is expendable. ``You don't know who is a criminal. You don't know who will strike when and where. Even commuting by local trains is proving dangerous now. We are now scared of going out,'' said Javed.

``My sons are hard working and good boys. They never mess around. Of late I have been warning them every time they leave house to just mind their ownbusiness. I get anxious if they return home late,'' said Sikandar's mother.

Sikandar, himself stunned, is thankful to the policemen who rushed him to hospital. ``I have been in vehicular accidents before but this is the first time I received a bullet injury,'' the 18-year-old said matter-of-factly.

Meanwhile, sixty-year-old Ramdas Sonawane, who was also injured, has been moved to KEM, and his condition is stable.