Two Mumbai Police commandoes injured in AK-47 firing

Two commandoes of the Mumbai Police's quick response team (QRT) were injured yesterday, after an AK-47 rifle was accidentally fired in Dahisar, where they are based.

Dahisar police said Harish Padiya, a commando of QRT Unit II, was on duty outside the office. At 2 pm, another commando came to take his place. Padiya was handing over his weapon to his replacement, when it slipped from his hands. As a reflex action, he bent and tried to catch it, and in the process, accidentally pulled the trigger.

Mumbai Police commandoes injured in AK-47 misfiring. Representational pic

The bullet grazed the left thigh of commando (constable) Sachin Awghare and ripped through the leg of another commando, Rajesh Kumbhar. The two were rushed to the civic-run Shatabdi Hospital in Kandivli.
Awghare had to undergo stitches and was discharged. Kumbhar suffered a fracture in his left thigh and discharged himself too.

A doctor at Shatabdi Hospital said, "Kumbhar was brought here with a bullet injury. The X-ray showed there was a femur fracture. However, he took discharge against medical advice." He was later shifted to Surana Hospital, Malad in the evening, where he was admitted to the ICU.

Hospital authorities there said Kumbhar was stable and out of danger. "However, he has to undergo orthopaedic surgery to insert a screw in his thigh bone, since it is now broken due to the bullet injury," the source added.

Brijesh Singh, additional commissioner of police (North zone), has ordered an inquiry. He said, "We are trying to ascertain whether it's a case of negligence or something went wrong between the two. The DCP of the zone will conduct an enquiry and submit a report to me." Singh added that the police had recorded statements of both the constables.

>> One sustained a fracture to the thigh
>> Commandoes belong to Unit II in Dahisar