Pradeep Prakash is back in the office where he was shot. (Shailesh Mule/Fotocorp)

Mumbai, April 28: When Pradeep Prakash, 52-year-old regional manager of Calcutta-headquartered Uco Bank, walked into his office at Nariman Point on Tuesday morning, many of his colleagues couldn’t believe their eyes.

They had rushed him to a hospital last October with a near-fatal bullet injury in his chest after the bank’s security guard shot him in a shocking incident of workplace rage.

Watching the media coverage of Pramod Mahajan’s battle for life, Prakash couldn’t help reliving his six-month-long fight for survival.

“It’s nothing short of a miracle. Though my doctors said I would face difficulties for the next two-three years, I think my health problems would perhaps be with me life long.

“But here I am alive, but not exactly kicking. I have been advised not to do anything stressful,” says Prakash with a hearty laugh.

Prakash was hospitalised for over 70 days with injuries in his chest, liver and abdomen after a bizarre shootout that shocked the bustling corporate district of Nariman Point.

A team of doctors led by liver surgery specialist M.M. Begani and cardiovascular-thoracic surgeon D.S. Saksena of Bombay Hospital reconstructed his injured diaphragm and a collapsed lung, but allowed the bullet fragments to remain inside his body.

“If I hadn’t jostled with the security guard’s rifle, the bullet would have perhaps hit me in the heart,” says Prakash.

A chief manager at Uco Bank’s Santa Cruz office in the western suburbs, Prakash had been transferred to the bank’s Nariman Point regional office at Mafatlal Centre in south Mumbai in July 2005. Death came knocking in the form of security guard Ratan Jadhav on the morning of October 20.

Minutes before the bank opened for the day’s transactions at 10.30 am, 58-year-old Jadhav walked into the bank after a nine-day absence.

Jadhav, an ex-serviceman, was an old employee of the bank, but his absenteeism had increased due to alcoholism. Prakash had instructed that Jadhav produce a medical certificate for his absence and not be allowed to sign the register till he personally met him.

Police investigation later revealed that Jadhav had pre-meditated the attack and acquired his double-barrelled service rifle from the treasury security office, fibbing that he had been allowed to resume.

Minutes later, Jadhav entered Prakash’s cabin on the first floor and shot him at point-blank range. A stunned Prakash tried to push away the long nozzle of the rifle, but the bullet injured him in the chest. As Prakash collapsed, Jadhav walked out of the cabin and shot himself dead with the second cartridge.

“I remember I walked down the stairs with two colleagues and took a taxi to Bombay hospital. My ribs were fractured, the right lung had collapsed. The bullet had traversed towards the intestines and the liver. I was on the ventilator for over 15 days,” Prakash said, comparing his case with Mahajan’s.

Prakash was given over 25 units of blood during an 11-hour surgery.

“The cartridge of the double-barrelled gun is nearly three inches long and even now you can see several pellets inside my body,” Prakash said, holding up X-rays of his chest and liver showing over a dozen pellets lodged near his vital organs.

Prakash, whose wife and two young daughters had virtually lost hope when he remained critical for 10 days, lives in Borivli, an hour from his office, and was earlier a regular suburban train commuter.

But post-surgery, doctors have asked him to strictly stay off trains, avoid long drives and cut down on strenuous activity.

“To avoid commuting, I am staying in a guest house near my South Mumbai office. My bank has completely supported me through this ordeal and I am grateful to them and my doctors for saving my life,” Prakash said.

The bank has now installed round-the-clock CCTV cameras to monitor the entire branch office.

Prakash and his wife wanted to call on Mahajan’s family at the Hinduja hospital after the Saturday shootout. “I had almost similar injuries like Mahajan except that my kidney was not damaged.

“My wife even suggested that we pay Mahajan’s family a visit, but the stream of visitors and high security discouraged us. Perhaps, it would give them more courage and a belief that miracles do happen,” he said, getting ready for another appointment at Bombay Hospital for a routine check-up.