Eyewitness claims Kasab used him as human shield

An eye witness to the terror attack at Cama Hospital on November 26 last year on Friday told a special court hearing the case that Pakistani gunmen Mohammed Ajmal Kasab and Abu Ismael had made him "human shield" while trying to escape from the clutches of police.

"After hearing gun shots, I rushed to the terrace of the hospital but two gunmen (Kasab and Ismael) were already there and they told me not to close the door," the witness, Chandrakant Tikhe, who works as generator operator and liftman at the hospital told Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.

According to Tikhe, the duo asked him the way to escape and when he told them that they could go down through the same staircase, they held a gun on his temple and asked him to lead them downstairs.

"While we were getting down, police were climbing up the stairs. I saw policemen and threw my hands up so that they should not mistake me as terrorist. My colleague who was with the police told them (police) that I am a hospital staff," the witness said deposing before judge M L Tahaliyani.

When Kasab saw policemen he threw a hand grenade and there was an explosion. A splinter hit Tikhe in the neck and he was injured but managed to escape in the midst of smoke caused due to the explosion.

The witness said Kasab had also fired at police in which two personnel were injured and two others killed.

Another witness, Thomas Uldekar, a teacher, said he was in Cama hospital with his relatives on the day of terror attack as his sister had delivered a baby.

"When we heard firing shots from the hospital compound, we rushed to fifth floor," the witness said adding he was accompanied by his friend and a relative.

On reaching the floor, Kasab and his accomplice Ismael asked them to put their hands up and stand facing the wall.

After that they were pushed into a bathroom and the door bolted from outside, Uldekar told the court.

They were rescued two hours later by the police.

Mahadeo Lambore, another witness, who had drawn a panchnama of a slain policeman's clothes, described the items of the victim.

During cross-examination he said that he was not aware who were the policemen killed in terror attack.