Playing Good Samaritan could have cost him his life, but coins in his pocket saved him. South Mumbai resident Sanjay Mayekar, 44, who noticed a man chasing three others on Thursday morning did not think thrice before rushing to the man’s help. Little did he imagine that one of the three assailants would fire at him. Mayekar, was lucky to have escaped with minor bullet injuries.
A businessman from Sindhudurg district, Pundalik Sawant, 48, who was in the city, was chasing the trio in Kumbharwada around 10.30am on Thursday. The assailants had snatched Sawant’s bag containing Rs40,000, said the police.
Mayekar, who was busy helping out at a Navratri pandal in the locality, was alerted on hearing Sawant’s screams.
“Mayekar, who joined in the chase, managed to catch hold of the man who was carrying the stolen bag. But that man pushed Mayekar to the ground and whipped out a country-made revolver and fired a round which missed him,” said an officer from JJ Marg police station which has jurisdiction over Kumbharwada area.
The bullet, said the officer, ricocheted after hitting Mayekar’s wallet, which he had tucked into his rear pocket. “The coins in the wallet saved Mayekar,” said the police officer.
In all the confusion, the accused fled, leaving behind the bag. But, it was later found that Rs35,000 had been removed from the bag.
Mayekar was taken to JJ hospital in Byculla, where he is undergoing treatment for the injuries he sustained.
“We hope to get clues from closed circuit television cameras installed in the area... We have the description of the three men and are preparing their sketches,” said senior inspector Shashikant Surve, adding that a case of robbery has been registered against the unidentified men.
