Rickshawpuller Salim - The Unlikely Hero

Salim, a 26-year-old r i ck s h a - wpuller, didn't cower in fear when he saw the two assailants open fire. He picked up a stone and hurled them at the attackers, turning into an unlikely hero.
    He was dropping a passenger at Gate No. 3 when he noticed the two gunmen opening fire on the tourist bus. Seeing Salim charging towards them, the two men panicked and dropped a magazine at the spot. He was also the one who alerted the cops nearby after which the police started chasing them. One of the constables, Pramod, posted at the gate, tried to chase the men.
    Both Pramod and Salim have given investigators leads on which the probe will progress. Pramod said the two men were wearing helmets and the pillion rider was armed. Salim, meanwhile, told TOI that "one man had the bike's engine running while the pillion rider had just finished firing the shots. He tried threatening me with the gun, but when he saw that I had a stone in hand, he panicked and dropped several live cartridges on the ground. Before I could reach them, they zoomed off.''
    "I was talking to a customer when I heard the shots and saw the men escaping. My father, who was sitting nearby, told me these were gunshots and that's why I ran to see what had happened. The men were on the bike and disappeared in a matter of seconds,'' said B K Srivastav, who owns a shop near Gate No.3. Other eyewitnesses said a policeman tried to follow the assailants on foot but bent down to pick up the live cartridges instead.
    Some other cops reportedly followed the attackers but in vain. The eyewitnesses also claimed that the attackers fired a shot in the air near Gate No.5 to get away without any hassle. "I saw the men zooming past my shop. They were on a bike and the pillion rider was wearing a green shirt while the rider was wearing black. They appeared clean-shaven and were quite tall and well-built,'' said Imran, who owns a shop near Gate No. 5.
'I was relieved to see
nursing staff rushing
towards my bus'
New Delhi: When he came out of the LNJP Hospital, hours after the Jama Masjid attack, the driver of the bus that was carrying Taiwanese tourists still looked shaken. Pushed into the spotlight, the driver said when he set out for the job on Sunday, he had never imagined what was to follow.
    According to him, he was to take the Taiwanese tourists on the Golden Triangle tour. "The Taiwanese team arrived at IGI airport on Saturday and on the same day checked in at Star Rocks Hotel in Safdarjung Development Area,'' said the driver.
    He said they set out for Old Delhi around 9 am. "After the tourists finished shooting at the Red Fort, they decided to go to Jama Masjid,'' he recalled. "I was inside the bus when the shots were fired. I heard them shrieking. I looked around and found a bike speeding away towards Gate No. 5 with two men on it. The local tourist guide, the tour manager and five others were boarding the bus when the bullets hit the victims. It took me sometime to realize what was happening. I was instructed by the guide to drive towards LNJP Hospital,'' he said.
    The driver said he did not wait for the PCR van or ambulance to come to the scene. "The distance between LNJP and Gate No. 3 is a little more than a kilometre. I made it within eight minutes. By 11.22 pm, I was at the hospital. I cannot tell you how relieved I was to find the nursing staff rushing towards my bus '' he said.