Smell of death and sense of grief at the hospital

Bloodied bodies of the victims of police firing at Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar lying at the Rajawadi hospital, Ghatkopar, Mumbai.

JULY 11: The casualty wards of Rajawadi Hospital at Ghatkopar (E) resembled emergency booths set up in a war zone. Agonising victims were surrounded by their grief-stricken relatives, some had huddled in the corners. The hospital notice board displayed 10 as the official figure for the dead in the Black Friday riots and 18 seriously injured and admitted in the hospital.

Relatives of the victims were crying uncontrollably while others sat stoically in the garden waiting for their dead to be handed over for the last rites. Most of the injured persons said that in the name of “law and order” the police had indulged in mindless firing, not even sparing women and children. Hospital authorities had identified the ten bodies as Amar D (18), Anil Garud (18), Sanjay Nikam (22), Nandu Katare (18), Mangesh Shivsharan (14), Sukhdev Kapadne (40), Babloo Verma (22), Sanjay Suhas Kamble (28), Kaushalyabai Pathare (40), and Vilas Dodke (20). All of the dead were reported to be from the Ramabai Colony in Ghatkopar (E).

Pointing at the bullet injury on his left knee, 33-year-old Sanjay Ahir said he was still confused why he became a target of police ire. “I work as a driver for an IAS officer, Chand Goyal, and had just left my house to resume duty when I saw a mob indulging in violence at the Eastern Express Highway. But before I could react I felt a searing pain as a police bullet hit my left leg,” said Ahir.