The foot overbridge (FOB) that collapsed outside Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) railway station carried a dubious legacy long before it claimed six lives on Thursday evening. Officially known as Himalaya Bridge, it was dubbed ‘Kasab Bridge’ after the terror attacks of November 26, 2008, in which Ajmal Amir Kasab and nine other terrorists laid siege to the city for 60 hours before being neutralised.
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On the night of the attacks, after Kasab and Abu Ismail attacked CSMT station, they took the same FOB to exit the station and came out in BT Lane, sandwiched between Anjuman-e-Islam school and the Times of India building. They even fired at the TOI building.
The duo then walked through BT Lane and asked for water from a family staying in a makeshift shelter on the pavement, after which they proceeded to the Cama and Albless Hospital. Additional Director General of Police Sadanand Date, who was at the time Additional Commissioner of Police (Central Region), was injured while combating the duo, who threw a hand grenade at him and his team.
Kasab and Ismail exited the hospital after this encounter and went on to attack Anti Terrorism Squad Chief Hemant Karkare, Additional Commissioner of Police (East region) Ashok Kamte and Police Inspector Vijay Salaskar, Anti Extortion Cell.
“The bridge that collapsed in front of CSMT station in Mumbai today was built in front of us in 1984 when I worked for The Times of India. Terrible tragedy. 5 dead; 25 injured. Railways blaming BMC. BMC blaming the Railways. The usual,” journalist and former Rajya Sabha member Pritish Nandy tweeted on Thursday night.