‘She rolled down window to check,bomb went off’

“He used to work at a Maruti Suzuki showroom in Chandigarh before. It was his dream to go abroad. So he wanted a job with an Embassy. He got this job as a driver with the Israel Embassy only a year ago,” he said.

According to his father,Manoj had reached diplomats Tal and Alon Yehoshua’s residence in Anand Niketan around 7.30 am on Monday. After dropping the children to school,he came back and drove the couple to the Embassy for work. Around 12.30 pm,Manoj drove them to Khan Market for lunch.

“My son told me that the couple spent about half an hour over lunch and then shopped for about 15-20 minutes,before driving back to the Embassy,” Sharma said.

Around 2.45 pm,he left the Embassy with Tal Yehoshua to pick up the children from school. “A security personnel always travels along with Alon Yehoshua. But only Tal Yehoshua goes to pick up the children and so the security personnel was not there in the car,” Sharma said.

Manoj has reportedly told his father,that when the Innova stopped at a traffic signal on Aurangazeb Road,something or someone “hit” the car.

“Manoj said his Madam (Tal Yehoshua) felt a thud on the car,and even rolled down the windows to see what it was. But before they could figure out what it was,the blast happened,” Sharma said.

Pulling off his seat belt,Manoj dragged himself out of the car,which had by then been shattered in the blast. He then quickly pulled out Tal Yehoshua,who was bleeding profusely.

“She was bleeding. Manoj called for help but nobody came. As both he and the diplomat had left their phones in the car,they could not call anyone. They dragged themselves towards some autorickshaws and went to the Embassy,” Sharma said.

Sharma added that though Manoj said they should go to a hospital immediately,Tal Yehoshua insisted they go to the Embassy first. “Manoj said she was fully conscious,though grievously injured. One auto driver came to their help and she used the his phone to call her husband,” Sharma explained.

Speaking to Newsline over phone from Primus Hospital,Manoj said,“I cannot divulge details about the blast because of security reasons. But there was nothing wrong with the car. I had driven it around all day and there were no problems.”

Manoj had sustained splinter injuries on his face and back. He is being kept for observation for another day at Primus Hospital and is expected to be discharged on Wednesday.