While lakhs of devotees throng Nashik to take a dip in the Godavari on the occasion of Kumbh Mela, the numerous policemen monitoring the crowd go mostly unnoticed and unappreciated.
But Manoj Barahate, a 24-year-old trainee police constable from the Wardha district, changed all that. On Monday afternoon, when Manoj was patrolling the Amardham bridge along with an assistant sub-inspector, he saw a man preparing to jump off into the water.
The man had one leg up on the railing and was getting ready to to jump, when Manoj spotted him. However, both him and his colleague could not reach him on time and the man jumped off the 20-feet-high bridge.
A crowd gathered and people looked on to find out what happened. But, Manoj knew that there was no time to waste. Instead of waiting for help, Manoj dived into the water to save the man.
“There was no other option,” Manoj later told reporters about his decision to jump. He managed to save the man from drowning. Praveen Gedam, IAS officer and Commissioner, Nashik Municipal Corporation, tweeted about Manoj’s bravery, along with pictures of him that were captured by a CCTV camera.
“That was the only way to save him. I saw that there was no movement in the water after he jumped. So if I would have gone from under the bridge he would have lost his life,” Manoj said.
