Police officers at the Vakola Police Station after the shooting incident.
The constable who accompanied a bleeding Vilas Joshi to Lilavati Hospital recalled how the first thing that Joshi said was to ask him to apprise the deputy commissioner of police (DCP) of the incident. Thereafter, Joshi kept asking the constable how far the hospital was and if he was badly injured.
Within ten minutes of being attacked by Assistant Sub-Inspector Dilip Shirke, Joshi was rushed to Lilavati Hospital. The constable said that, when he heard shots being fired and saw Joshi fall, he rushed to give Joshi support. He also asked Balasaheb Ahir, the wireless operator who was also injured in the incident, to sit in the vehicle. The driver was then instructed to reach Lilavati Hospital as fast as possible.
En route, Joshi first told the accompanying cop to inform the DCP that Shirke had shot him and also himself. Next, he asked the constable whether he was hurt badly, to which the constable said the wound was not deep and they would reach the hospital. Joshi asked several times if he had grievous wounds and how far the hospital was. Each time, the constable comforted his bleeding senior that the situation was under control and he need not worry. At Kherwadi junction, the cop again asked how far they were, and the constable replied that they would reach within five minutes.
Even on reaching the hospital, Joshi turned to the constable and told him he was in pain, and asked if he would be okay.
Only when Joshi was injected with a glucose drip and saw the hospital equipment did he realise that his injuries were indeed serious.
"Until Joshi sir had not seen the apparatus of the hospital, he was talking and confident," recounted the constable.