Wednesday, Nov 26, 2008

9.48 pm

It’s business as usual at Colaba restaurant Café Leopold, with backpackers mingling with South Mumbai office-goers unwinding with a mid-week beer. Suddenly, two men walk in, whip out machine guns and open fire. Within minutes, they have fired several dozen rounds. As some drop and others scatter, they walk outside, firing randomly as they run towards the Taj, a couple of hundred metres away. En route, bystanders and shop-owners are hit by bullets.

9.55 pm

Simultaneously, 2 gunmen – Kasab and Abu Dera Ismael Khan – have opened fire inside the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus. Railway announcer Vishnu Zende (37) later describes them as “young, well-built and showing no sign of fear”. A haversack slung under one arm and wielding a machine gun, Kasab has a slight bounce in his gait, almost enjoying his assignment as commuters heading home run for cover. Zende saves hundreds of lives with his presence of mind, urgently announcing that people should either stay put inside trains or head out from the opposite direction, from Platform No 1.

Having killed an RPF policeman and a ticket collector — among the 55 people who died inside the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus — the terrorist duo stay inside the station building for a considerable length of time, shooting randomly and returning fire as RPF and Mumbai Police personnel try to subdue them.

Mohammad Toufiq Sheikh (28), a tea-vendor at the station, is one of those who won’t forget the sight. Frightened out of his wits, he runs into a reservation room, alerts officials, and locks the door. But the glass façade of the counter is a dead giveaway and one of the two gunmen kicks at the door repeatedly. The terrorist then fires at the glass façade, which shatters partially. “He saw me, and fired two rounds. One hit the wooden table and the next hit the wall.He then spat out a cuss word,” Sheikh recalls.

... contd.