From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Aug 17: The high drama that prevailed at Nimhans on Sunday August 16 evening has left the city of Bengaluru tense. High security was deployed outside the mortuary at Nimhans where the body of Vishwanath, the mentally-ill prisoner who opened fire with a rifle and later was killed by the Guruda team, was kept. On Monday August 17, the body was shifted from Nimhans to Victoria hospital.
On Sunday evening, it was a scene straight out of the movies, involving tense moments with firing and finally the climax ending with the death of the shooter. 22-year-old prisoner Vishwanath was brought by the policemen of the City Armed Reserve (CAR) force for treatment at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (Nimhans) for treatment in the psychiatry ward. The prisoner suddenly snatched gun from a CAR guard, who was obviously unprepared for such an attempt and was not alert enough, and started shooting every 10 minutes from the window of the psychiatry ward aiming at the nurses’ station, which was directly opposite.
The attempts by the CAR guards to pin down Vishwanath proved ineffective as he was armed with a loaded gun. The prisoner, who was unable to escape, was locked in the guard room of the criminal ward in the psychiatry building and used the five rifles kept the guard room to open fire. All attempts to persuade the prisoner to surrender proved futile. He was finally "neutralised" by the elite anti-terror commando strike force of the Garuda team, which arrived on the spot to contain the situation.
But utter confusion prevailed in the campus, especially for visitors. From the time that the police realised there was an armed prisoner in the Psychiatry Building, the entrances to the Convention Centre area and subway were sealed. People within the cordoned-off areas at the time were swiftly escorted outside.
However, the entire situation was confined to the psychiatry building and did not spill over to the other areas. Patients were completely unaware of the drama going on nearby and the gunshots went unnoticed till the sounds of the final burst of bullets pierced the air.
Garuda Team storms the place
As the Garuda team entered the guardroom and fired at Vishwanath, there was a burst of gunshots in quick succession which echoed through the campus around the ward.
People started piling up at the campus and the police had to clear the area to allow the ambulances to go in. As people struggled to catch a glimpse of the shooter, when he was brought out, the drama quickly ended with the policemen coming and announcing that Vishwanath had been "neutralised."
22-year-old Vishwanath was a resident of Kaval Byrasandra and was arrested in May 2011 on the charge of setting vehicles on fire by the DevarajeevanaHalli police and had two cases against him.
He had been lodged in the Bengaluru Central Prison since then.
According to the DJ Halli police, Vishwanath’s father had died many years ago, leaving behind two sons and a wife. At an age of 17, Vishwanath had become a drug addict was a troublemaker in the area. He would pick up fights with the residents and beat them up over trivial issues.
Hundreds of anxious passers-by gathered at the entrance of the criminal ward of Nimhans to catch a glimpse of the drama taking place on the campus. The police had a tough time chasing away the crowds as gunshots were heard at regular intervals.
The traffic police, who rushed to the spot to provide logistic support, were heard asking people to go home.The police had a tough time in identifying the patients and onlookers. In the end, everyone was asked to move back from the area.
For the elite Garuda team, handling the tense situation at Nimhans was incidentally the first major operation. The commandoes took over the criminal ward of the campus within half an hour of the prisoner-turned-gunman, Vishwanath, locked inside the guardroom, took steps to neutralise him.
Mother, brother were summoned to talk
The city police engaged the gunman in a prolonged negotiation in the hopes of wearing down the prisoner through negotiation. Vishwanath’s mother and younger brother were summoned by the police to convince him to surrender after he was locked up inside guardroom of the criminal ward.
After appealing to Vishwanath to surrender by using a loudspeaker, they even threw a mobile phone through the window of the guardroom to talk to his mother and peacefully surrender.
However, Vishwanath did not speak to his mother for long and reportedly disconnected call. When police asked him if he had any specific demands through the loudspeaker, Vishwanath did not respond. Finally, the city police commissioner N S Megharikh authorised action to overpower the prisoner-turned-gunman and the Garuda team swung into action quickly. The entire drama was over in less than 15 minutes after the City Police Commissioner’s green signal to storm the place.
No casualties in the operation
"The quick response team (QRT) commandoes took a great risk storming the room with a man believed to be mentally unstable and armed with five rifles and around 100 rounds of ammunition. Commandoes retaliated with fire when confronted with fire from the gunman," Megharikh said.
"We were given a clearance to storm the room around 7 pm and the team successfully neutralised the gunman by 7.15 pm. We did not suffer any injuries," Additional Director-General of Police, Internal Security Division T Suneel Kumar said.
A critically injured Vishwanath was rushed to the Intensive Care Unit of Nimhans, where doctors performed a surgery to retrieve bullets and save him. Around 11.30 pm, the police confirmed that Vishwanath had died.
With the death being considered custodial (that is, by the police), a statement of the family can only be recorded by a judicial magistrate. Vishwanath’s mother and uncle went to the Siddapura police station to record the statement before the judicial magistrate. Vishwanath’s body will be shifted to port-mortem at the Victoria Hospital only after the recording of the statement.
Nimhans is slowly limping back to normalcy.