Kolkata: Coconut seller rescued injured ACP, took him to a local mosque for shelter

KOLKATA: When hooligans attacked ACP Debjit Chatterjee near MG Road and Rabindra Sarani intersection on Tuesday, a 56-year-old coconut seller rushed to the rescue of the injured police officer.
Md Sahid took Chatterjee to a local mosque, Sundariya Patti Masjid, which he thought would be the safest refuge, gave him water and sat with him till other locals and policemen came looking for him and took him to hospital. Even in pain, Chatterjee managed to ask Sahid his name and told him: "Hum aapko dekhenge (I'll look out for you)."

ACP Debjit Chatterjee inside the mosque
Around 3pm on Tuesday, as violent scenes unfolded in the locality, local traders were stunned. Some rushed inside their shops and downed shutters and others ran for their lives leaving their wares on the pavement. Sahid, who keeps his coconuts on a wooden trolley, was right next to where the police PCR van had stopped. This is the spot from where he has been doing business for the past three decades. When he saw the vandals approach, Sahid, too ran away.
From a distance Sahid saw the police vehicle being first ransacked and then set on fire. He saw a police officer being violently attacked and then running to save his life.
"Till that moment, I was worried about my coconuts being damaged in the fire. I am a poor man and that means a lot to me. But when I saw the police officer running for his life, I forgot everything and tried to reach him," Sahid told TOI on Wednesday.
'In 32 years of doing business here, I've never seen anything like this'
Shadan Ghazali's Classic Footwear Shop was close to where rallyists set a police van on fire and brutally assaulted ACP Debjit Chatterjee.
"The officer and the driver of the torched van first took shelter in my shop. I downed the shutters but there were a lot of people who had seen the two stepping in. So, Sahid, whom I have known for the past 15-16 years, took the officer to the mosque. I could not step out myself as the police driver was still in my shop. This is something I have never seen here," he said.
"I took the officer to the mosque and he sat inside for a while and had some water. A little later, some locals and policemen reached the mosque and took him away. But the officer did ask me my name and told me 'hum aapko dekhenge (I will look out for you)'. That he is now in hospital and safe is all I can hope for," he said.
"I have been selling coconuts at this spot for the past 32 years. I have never seen anything like this before. I did what anyone would have done in my place," Shahid said.
On Wednesday, Sahid was back to the same spot selling his coconuts. "I am a poor man. I have nothing much to say on this," the Kalabagan resident said.