Builder knew he wouldn’t live

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An autorickshaw driver Tejas Sharad Jhanjurde, was on his way to Vashi station at around 8.30 am on Saturday, when he heard loud cries of 55-year-old Sunilkumar Lohiya, who was shot.
The 30-year-old driver rushed the bleeding man to the hospital, fracturing his right ankle in the process.
Mr Jhanjurde, who is a resident of Koparkhairne, heard the injured Mr Lahoriya saying that he wouldn’t survive. “I quickly entered the lane and saw a man falling on the ground, while another man running. After seeing this, I got off from the auto to help them. As he was injured badly, I had to drag him to my vehicle. While stepping down from the footpath, I twisted my ankle, but managed to get the victim in my auto with the help of his friend S.K. Pandey. We then rushed him to Fortis Hospital,” said Mr Jhanjurde.
“I have been shot five times and I can’t live,” Mr Lohiya was heard saying. “One of his fingers was blown-off because of the bullet and some flesh on his cheek was also missing. We reached Fortis Hospital, after which Pandey took him inside. I got preliminary medical aid, but then went to the nearby municipal hospital for further treatment,” said Mr Jhanjurde.
The police has recorded Mr Jhanjurde’s statement as one of the witnesses. The prime witnesses include Mr Lohiya’s office staffers, who saw the assailants attacking him. It was recently reported that Mr Lohiya had blown the lid off a major real estate scam in Navi Mumbai, where builders had illegally consumed Floor Space Index (FSI) for housing projects. He had procured the information based on a series of RTI applications. Authorities had then declared a construction project as illegal and even demolished a part of it. His son Sunny, while speaking to this newspaper said, “We had already complained to the police about Suresh Bijlani and Anurag Garg for issuing regular threats to my father. Bijlani is connected to the underworld and Garg is an architect. The police has utterly failed to redress our grievance.”