NAGPUR: A
minibus driver
ferrying 35 pilgrims from Shegaon in Buldhana district to Nagpur displayed uncommon courage in outsmarting trigger-happy hijackers on a
highway
and driving 30km with a
bullet lodged
in his arm late Sunday before trundling, bleeding and exhausted, into a
police station
.
Khomdev Kawade
held his nerve in the face of a volley of bullets from the car-borne gang, which chased the bus on the Amravati-Nagpur highway. The gangsters fired four rounds at the windscreen and the bullets missed him by a whisker, barring one which lodged in his hand.
Despite excruciating pain and oozing blood, he did not lose control, dodged bullets, and swerved past the hijacers at Sawadi village, 100km from Nagpur, and finally arrived at Teosa police station.
“The heroic driver ensured all pilgrims were safe,” said a police officer.
Kawade had stopped briefly at Ambe Mata temple in Amravati before resuming the journey to Nagpur. Shortly after crossing Nandgaonpeth toll naka, Kawade noticed he was being followed. Initially, he tried to allow the vehicle to overtake, before bullets began flying.
Amravati police later escorted the bus back to Nandgaonpeth police station. Kawade was rushed to a primary health centre. The highway gang had stolen a vehicle with a UP registration number from Nashik a few days ago and a theft FIR, too, was registered.
Police scoured CCTV at different entry and exit points of Nagpur to zero in on the highway robbers. Footage showed the getaway vehicle moving towards the city, but then taking the Kamptee-Kanhan route from Gondkheri toll naka towards Jabalpur highway.