Oberoi barman was too petrified to follow the 26/11 attackers’ orders, so he was killed.
The two Pakistani gunmen who attacked Hotel Oberoi on November 26, 2008, ordered the waiters there to set the place on fire and killed one when he could not to do the task, said an eyewitness.
The witness, Pradeep, 52, who worked as an assistant steward in Kandahar Restaurant, said that at about 10 pm that night, he saw two people firing at Tiffin Restaurant on the ground floor. All the 10 employees, including him, started helping about 60 guests escape through the rear door.
The gunmen soon came on the mezzanine floor, where Kandahar is situated, and started firing and entered the restaurant, Pradeep said. “At the bar, they [gunmen] asked my colleague Jordon (Pereira) to pour liquor on table,” Pradeep said, adding that a gunman gave Jordon a lighter and asked him to set the table on fire.
“Jordon’s hands were shivering. He told them that the lighter wasn’t working,” he said.
The gunmen then asked for a matchbox, which Jordon promptly handed over. “The gunmen then said to Jordon, Jaldi karo! Bahut kaam hai. (Make it fast! We have a lot to do),” said Pradeep.
Jordon, shaken considerably, told the gunmen that his fingers were burnt. “One of the gunmen then told the other to shoot Jordon,” said Pradeep. Jordon fell instantly.
The terrorists then got Pradeep to set the table on fire and took him out of the restaurant near the lift and asked him where
the VIPs stayed.
While the elevator was on its way, the gunmen lobbed grenades and hid in a corner.
“In the meantime, the lift arrived on the floor. I quickly entered the lift and pressed the button for the ground floor. The gunmen fired at the lift, but I escaped,” said the witness.
Later, the witness identified the two bodies at the JJ Hospital.
Another witness who conducted the inquest panchnama on the bodies of the two gunmen also deposed on Wednesday. Edwin Saldanha said one of the terrorists had only one thumb.
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