Rs. 10 coins in wallet save Mumbai man from robber’s bullet

Shot at by one of the robbers he was chasing, a 44-year-old man escaped with minor injuries as the bullet hit the Rs. 10 coins in his pocket and got stuck in his underwear.

Shot at by one of the robbers he was chasing, a 44-year-old man escaped with minor injuries as the bullet hit the Rs. 10 coins in his pocket and got stuck in his underwear.

According to the police, when Pundalik Sawant, 48, a Sindhudurg-based businessman, was on his way to the Gol Temple area in Null Bazaar, three unidentified men snatched his bag containing Rs. 40,000. Sawant raised an alarm and started chasing them. “Seeing the chaos, five volunteers of a Navratri mandal, too, started chasing the trio,” said Shashikant Surve, senior inspector, JJ Marg police station.

When Sanjay Mayekar, 44, one of the volunteers, caught hold of one of the accused, he pulled out a country-made firearm. “Stunned, Mayekar tried to direct the firearm towards the ground,” he said.

The bullet hit the ground and ricocheted. It hit his wallet in the back pocket of his trouser and got stuck in his underwear. “Only after Mayekar had a burning sensation, did he realise that the bullet had brushed past him,” said Dr Ravindra Shisve, deputy commissioner of police (Zone I).

Mayekar is recuperating at the Sion hospital. The bag was found dumped at the spot where the firing occurred and Rs. 4,000 was recovered from it. The police suspect that the trio was following Sawant. The police are now preparing sketches of the attackers on the basis of the description given by Mayekar and Sawant. They are also scanning the CCTV footages of shops in the area to get further clarity on the incident.