I had just reached home when I got word about the firing at Cafe Leopold. I called my driver and asked him to come back, but unwilling to wait, started on foot with my service revolver. At Leopold, I learnt that the terrorists had run in the direction of Trident Hotel. At the same time, we heard an explosion at a distance, and I soon received a call informing me that a grenade had been set off outside a petrol pump in Colaba.
Amidst rumours of multiple citizens being gunned down and more bombs having gone off, we were able to ascertain that the terrorists had entered Nariman House, also known as Chabad House. Having worked in the south region for a long time, I had established and maintained a rapport with local residents and political leaders, which turned out to be of invaluable assistance that night. Within minutes, we had a massive party of local residents evacuating the area in order to limit the loss of life. Every citizen, young or old, heeded the call and rushed to help, knowing fully well that there were armed men in their midst. Over 300 residents were evacuated.
At that time, I only had three constables armed with self-loading rifles to assist me. I thought hard and came up with an action plan. I instructed the constables to take up positions in different buildings and while they were doing so, nine State Reserve Police Force jawans reached the spot. I spread them out as wide as I could.
For the next several hours, we fired from various spots in order to give the impression that there was a large and well-armed police force around them. They kept firing and we kept firing back, with the sole objective of keeping them inside. We knew that if they managed to escape, they would cause further bloodshed.
At 6.30 a.m. on November 27, right in the middle of the exchange of bullets, the door to Nariman House opened and a woman carrying a child and a man came running out. Everyone was on edge. Most of us were afraid that this was a ploy. It was only after prolonged questioning, even as some of us kept trading bullets with the terrorists, that we confirmed that the woman was Sandra Samuel, the boy was baby Moshe Holtzberg and the man was Qazi Zakir Hussain.
We knew our idea had succeeded when we learned, through our superiors, that the terrorists had conveyed to their masters that they were surrounded from all sides. The Anti Terrorism Squad had managed to tap the terrorists’ phones and had picked this up while listening in on their conversation.
We kept at it till 4 p.m., when the NSG descended upon the scene and killed the terrorists inside. I remember feeling unbearably tense when the gunfire stopped and silence descended on the scene. All of us waited with bated breath till we got the message from inside: Mission Successful.
(As told to Gautam S. Mengle)
