Plucky policeman knits together life after blast

NAGPUR, March 22: When police inspector Tapan Kumar Roy took up an assignment with the bomb disposal squad, little did he know what fate had...

NAGPUR, March 22: When police inspector Tapan Kumar Roy took up an assignment with the bomb disposal squad, little did he know what fate had in store for him.

On July 22, 1996, a crude bomb went off in Roy’s hands when he was in the process of defusing the same. The blast shattered his arms and sent splinters piercing into his eyes, face and torso. What follows is a gritty officer’s tale of immense courage under the most trying circumstances: Roy not only survived the blast but after surgery, fully recovered his health.

Roy recalls the fateful day when the bomb went off in his hands. He was then posted with the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) of the city police. When Umred police recovered seven crude bombs from Heti village in July 1996, the BDDS was summoned to defuse them. Hence Roy, with his team comprising PSI Khandekar, HC Mishra and constable Ashok, got down to this task.

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Roy, who had undergone training in the detection and defusal of bombs with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police inMussourie, remembers that he had sent the other three members of the team a little far away and started defusing the bombs himself. He had successfully defused two bombs, when Mishra approached him with a request to be allowed to defuse a bomb. Roy obliged.

Putting up the safety gear handed over by Roy, Mishra started to defuse the bomb but got confused midway. He summoned Roy for help. Roy took the half-defused bomb in his hand and was taking a close look when the bomb suddenly went off.

Roy fell unconscious and when he recovered his wits, found that his hands were shattered. The brave officer, however, did not panic and immediately summoned his stunned colleagues for help. He asked them to tie up his shattered hands — his left thumb was hanging loose, his right one was broken from the middle joint — and told them to take him to the Umred Primary Health Centre (PHC).

Doctors at the PHC could not be of much help and Roy had to be rushed to Government Medical College (GMC). Sajal Mitra, head of thedepartment of orthopaedics, GMC, conducted the surgery with his team. They put together the hands and removed the splinters from the eyes and body. Quick treatment and a bit of luck made it possible for Roy to return from the hospital in over a month with all his body parts intact and functional.

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The surgeons had removed more than 90 splinters from Roy’s eyes. But as the splinters had embedded only superficially, the retina was spared and thus Roy’s eyesight was not affected. Roy also did not require plastic surgery as his skin was more or less intact. The only hitch was that Roy’s right thumb later developed infection and a part of the bone had to be removed. However, doctors say that Roy is fully fit now.

Roy attributes this to his luck and the efficiency of the doctors who attended on him. Medicos in turn give credit to the fact that Roy reached them fast and that all the factors that contribute to a miraculous recovery came together in his case.

Roy still has his problems. Sometimes, splinters comeout of his palms and face — when he shaves for instance. And though it pains him sometimes, Roy has no complaints. He has his life back and nothing else matters to him.