He lay down quietly for several minutes along with four of his dead colleagues, till the police team put them all in a vehicle and brought them to KEM Hospital. Once inside the hospital, Rao sat up and declared that he was alive.

According a senior police officer who was present in the hospital, even in his injured state the gangster demanded to see the identity card of the doctor since he suspected that he might try to harm him. ``Rao was hit in the chest, face and arm, but he was still fully conscious and demanded that no policeman should come near him,'' the officeradded.

In a statement to the police, Rao is reported to have said that they had followed their target from Arthur Road Jail and were so intent on their job that they failed to notice the police team which was behind them. He also said that when they were intercepted by the police, he immediately jumped out of the car and opened fire, while his four colleagues fired from inside the car. He and his associates were hit by police bullets, and it was at this point that Rao decided to do his dead act.

Since a small crowd had begun to gather at the place of the encounter at Sayani Road, the police officers had no time to ascertain whether all the gangsters were dead. They were, in fact, quite surprised when Rao suddenly sprang to life in the stretcher.

``Apart from being strong, he has amazing will power which helped him to survive after being hit by three bullets,'' an officer remarked.Hospital sources said that he was operated last night and the bullets in his arm and face have been removed. A third bullethas passed through his rib cage. He is now recuperating in the intensive care unit and has almost recovered from his injuries and can even be discharged in a few days, sources said.

According to an officer, Rao had similarly fooled police when he was shot at around three years ago by Sub Inspector Mridula Lad in Juhu. Even then, Rao had played a dead man to near perfection till he was taken to the hospital.He later recovered from the injury and managed to come out on bail. Even today Rao walks with a slight limp - a result of his first brush with death.