Docs say it’s a miracle; CRPF officer was shot nine times in J&K and had fallen into a coma
Chetan Cheetah is a real-life Superman. Despite being shot with nine bullets in his body, the CRPF officer's strong willpower ensured that he not only survived but came out of coma — an incident that doctors terming as a 'miracle'.
Cheetah, who was wheeled into the AIIMS trauma centre on February 14, went into coma after being airlifted from Srinagar. But after spending 50 days in hospital, this 'Indian Superman' made his way out on Wednesday in a wheelchair. He now hopes to be back on his feet soon.
Uma Singh, Cheetah's wife, could not hide her joy at seeing her husband well. "It's Diwali for us already," said an ecstatic Uma. "I am proud of my husband for the way he fought for our country. I am a daughter of an Army officer and this day will be celebrated like a festival," she added while standing next to him at the trauma centre on Wednesday.
Doctors said that the Commanding Officer (CO) of the CRPF's 45th battalion in the Kashmir Valley had suffered bullet injuries in his brain, right eye, abdomen, both arms, left hand and in the buttock region. They added that he has shown a steely resolve to respond to their intensive medical care that went on for close to two months.
"His treatment was no cakewalk. Multiple complex surgeries were carried out to drain out fluid from the brain. He had also developed infections due to his wounds. These were managed by critical care specialists in ICU," said Dr Subodh Kumar, Professor of trauma surgery, AIIMS.
What was even more worrying for doctors, and for Cheetah's family, is that within 24 hours of admission, a surgery was conducted to remove a portion of the skull, which had suffered a bullet injury to reduce intra-cranial pressure.
However, Cheetah's wife said that she never lost faith in her husband. "Doctors would say he was in coma, but whenever I would meet him and hold his hands, he would respond by moving his fingers. That strengthened my faith that he was coming back to me," she said. Cheetah was in coma for 16 days and spent over a month in the ICU.
There was a dark cloud to this silver lining. While doctors helped save this Superman's life, they were not able to save his right eye. "When he was brought in, apart from his other injuries, the globe of his eight eye had ruptured. We were not able to save it," said Dr Amit Gupta, Additional Medical Superintendent at the AIIMS Trauma Centre.
Extraordinary Officer
A commanding officer of the 45th battalion, Cheetah was posted in north Kashmir since September last year. Fellow officers say that since then, the battalion started giving stupendous results in the war on terror. From killing one of the most wanted militants, Abu Musaib, who was the nephew of the Mumbai terror attack mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, to the killing of militant Abu Haris, Cheetah's team was part of the joint operation with Army and police in the Hajin area of north Kashmir. "After he joined the 45th battalion there were great achievements. Cheetah is an energetic person and he led from the front. There was three to four operations in which the battalion gave good results," Rajesh Yadav, CRPF's spokesman in Kashmir, told DNA.
Ishfaq ul Hassan
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