Midnapore, Jan. 2: A primary school teacher who was shot five times by Maoists and left for dead regained consciousness after almost 10 hours and then made it to Belpahari police station, 7km away.

Bharat Singh, 42, of Kusumdanga village had gone to Jhargram on his motorcycle yesterday afternoon to shop. On the way back, around five in the evening, he was stopped by a gang near his home, yanked off his motorcycle and taken to a hillock where he was beaten till he fell unconscious. Then, five bullets were pumped into him: three in his back, one in his shoulder and the fifth in his face.

Around three this morning, Singh regained consciousness and realised he was bleeding. He began, painfully, to look for help. He first struggled to a forest beat office about a kilometre away. Finding it locked, he kept banging on the door but there was no response. Realising that whoever was inside would not open the door out of fear, he decided to walk to the police station. It took him one-and-a-half hours to cover the distance and once he was there he again had to bang on the door.

For half an hour, there was no response. When a constable emerged finally, he would not let Bharat enter. It was only after he introduced himself as a local CPM leader and told them about his plight that the police admitted him to the Belpahari hospital, opposite the station.

Bharat, who teaches at Tulsibani Primary School, is a CPM branch committee member.

The Belpahari doctors pleaded helplessness — they did not have the equipment to operate on him. Bharat was then taken to the Jhargram Subdivisional Hospital, 40km away, where four of the bullets were extracted. The fifth is still lodged in his gum.

“He managed to survive because, luckily, none of his vital organs was hit,” said hospital superintendent Radhanath Mandi.