Man wanted to take on Raj Thackeray

MUMBAI: Passengers narrating the shooting incident in a BEST double-decker bus today said the person from Patna, holding a gun, kept on shouting that he had come to Mumbai to take on MNS chief Raj Thackeray.

One of the commuters said that the 23-year-old gunman identified as Rahul Raj, went on screaming subsequently that he had nothing against the passengers and only wanted to "take on" Raj Thackeray.

"He (Raj) then made some passengers write in chits, and kept on dropping it from the bus stating that he had come to attack Raj Thackeray. The person also kept demanding for a mobile phone," the terrified passengers said adding that the gunman was later shot dead by the police.

Recounting the terror, another passenger, Abdul Rashid Sheikh, said, "I was sitting on the upper deck of the bus when I heard some screams I saw this man (Raj) trying to strangle the conductor with some kind of a chain and then he let him go... After that he shot one of the passengers for no reason."

"All of us ducked down under the seat and we were very scared since we didn't know if the police was to start firing," Sheikh, an employee with a local bank and a resident of suburban Andheri, who was travelling with his wife Rafia, said.

"There were nearly 15 passengers on the upper deck of the bus. He first tried to take my wife out but then apologised to her, seeing she was woman, and said that he (Raj) would escort her out of the bus," Sheikh said.