Stabbed and bleeding, he walked 2.5 km to seek help

After being stabbed in his back, shoulder and leg for resisting a robbery, a 26-year-old IT administrator was forced to walk 2.5 kilometres - all while bleeding profusely - towards the nearest hospital, while his pleas for help went ignored by dozens of of commuters and pedestrians. The victim is Santosh R, a resident of Ulsoor. Santosh, an employee of a private firm on Sarjapur Road, visited his friend's house in KR Puram on Saturday evening. He left around 9.30 pm and walked onto the ITI flyover (cable bridge) hoping to catch a bus. He waited for a while but didn't see any, so began walking towards Old Madras Road to board a metro that could take him home. However, as he reached the middle of the bridge around 9.45 pm, two unidentified men on a white Suzuki Access stopped him on the pretext of asking for directions. "They asked me the way to the KR Puram Railway Station, and when I told them it was below the bridge, they began abusing me in vulgar language.They asked me why I was on foot, and not in a vehicle. The rider suddenly swung his helmet at me and tried to grab my phone, but I resisted. The pillion then got off, took out a curved dagger, and stabbed me multiple times," Santosh told Mirror. Despite this, Santosh tried to hold on to the miscreants' scooter and screamed for help. Though there were a number of vehicles travelling on the bridge, none stopped, he says. "I tried snatching the bike's key to turn the ignition off, but the duo escaped. Gravely njured, I continued to shout for help and tried to stop pass ng vehicles in the hope that someone would see my plight, but in vain. I was forced to walk towards Chinmaya Mission Hospital in Indiranagar, nearly five kilometres away," recalled Santosh. Woozy from the loss of blood, the victim trudged 2.5 kilometres before nearly colapsing outside Big Bazaar on Old Madras Road, where a Good Samaritan finally noticed his blood-soaked clothes and critical condition. He then reportedly paid an autorickshaw driver to rush the victim to Chinmaya, from where he was shifted to Bowring Hospital n an ambulance. "It was well past 10.30 pm when I was taken into the emergency ward of Bowring.Doctors said the dagger had missed damaging my kidneys by mere centimetres. Police visited me and took details of he incident, and were very cooperative throughout. Since it was pitch dark on the bridge, couldn't note down the regstration number of the twowheeler. I have been advised complete bed rest, and am recuperating at home," the victim added. Deputy commissioner of police (east) N Satheesh Kumar confirmed the incident but rued that no closed circuit camera was installed on the bridge that could have captured the ncident. "Based on the physical description of the assailants provided by the victim, we have dentified the main accused as a rowdy-sheeter who is a resident of Bhattarahalli. His movements are being tracked based on his cellphone tower location and he will be arrested soon. He will lead us to his associate who was riding the vehicle," he said. A case has been registered under various sections of the PC, and investigations are on. -TOI