Bhopal: A 10 kg bomb tucked in his arms, a policeman sprinted 1km to save 400 children who were in school when the unexploded artillery shell was discovered in Chitora village of Sagar district.
Still breathless from his run, head constable Abhishek Patel told mediapersons: “My only objective was to take it away as far from the children as possible. Far away from all residential areas.” A 12-scond videoclip of Patel running with the bomb on his shoulder has gone viral. It uncannily reminds you of the iconic Forrest Gump running scenes.
There were about 400 children in the school when the bomb was found on Friday morning. It’s not known who dialled 100 but police responded instantly. Senior teacher Ajay Kumar said, “Police saw the bomb and immediately asked us to close for the day, almost two hours early. We asked the students to leave at once.”
A student, Basant Kumar, said, “Teachers declared chutti after being told that there was a bomb on the school premises.” Within minutes, media crews arrived. Amid all the hubbub the bomb was lying where it was.
Suddenly, head constable Patel picked it up and started a 1-km-long sprint. Journalists were taken unawares and only one person could snap a quick video, where you can see Patel’s face for barely a second as he leaps over boulders and bushes and disappears in the distance, clearly making for a small hill.
On returning, he explained that a few months ago, he was part of a police operation when a similar bomb was spotted. “Had it exploded, we were told, it would have damaged a radius of 500 meters. I was afraid it would blow up and decided to take it as far away as possible,” he said. The shell is yet to be defused.
IG Sagar Satish Saxena said, “There is an Army shooting range near the village. The Army was informed about the bomb. How it reached there and who placed it near the school is being investigated.” He announced a reward for Pate for showing exemplary courage.
