SRINAGAR: Slain pharmacist Makhan Lal Bindro’s brother-in-law Dr Sandeep Mawa calls himself lucky as militants killed his salesman thinking it was him on Monday night.
Mawa, who runs a wholesale shop of dry fruit and spices in downtown Srinagar, had received a call from police at around 3 pm alerting threat to his life.
He left the place immediately.
Five hours later, his salesman Mohd Ibrahim Khan was shot dead when he was boarding an SUV normally used by Mawa.
Incidentally, the police had alerted the Kashmiri Pandit businessman and his father about militant threat about eight months ago.
While Mawa’s father had survived an attack more than three decades ago, his brother-in-law Bindroo was shot dead by militants on October 5.
After Monday’s alert, Mawa left the shop immediately in a different car than his usual SUV.
“The SUV was in a lane and another vehicle was in front of the shop. I left in that car and thought I would return within two-three hours but I could not come.”
Around 8.10 pm, Ibrahim closed the shop and was moving towards the SUV when militants fired four bullets.
He was evacuated and taken to a hospital but could not be saved.
Mawa knew Khan for 13 years.
“It was a case of mistaken identity. When Ibrahim had opened the SUV, he was fired at by militants suspecting that it was me,” said Mawa. “I was the actual target of militants.”