"Yala maru nako. Ha evidence ahe. (Don't shoot him. He is evidence)," recalls a Mumbai policeman having told his colleague after catching hold of 26/11 Pakistani gunman Ajmal Amir Kasab.
These words of wisdom from Sanjay Govilkar, Assistant Police Inspector of D B Marg police station,
helped the Mumbai police capture alive Kasab, one of the 10 Pakistani terrorists who attacked the country's financial capital on November 26.
"I cannot claim I had given the issue any thought. The thought crossed my mind and I blurted it out just when Boudhankar was about to shoot Kasab," says Govilkar, who despite taking a bullet in the abdomen, did not let go of the terrorist.
Kasab's capture has helped pin the blame on terror merchants operating from India's restive neighbourhood.
The wound inflicted by the bullet a year ago has healed but the 40-year-old policeman continues to have nightmares.
"I avoid passing by Girgaum area where the shootout occurred because faces of slain colleagues and seniors ---Tukaram Omble, Hemant Karkare, Vijay Salaskar and Ashok Kamte appear before me and I feel depressed," Govilkar told PTI.