That's plucky!

Pune woke up to a nighmarish experience on January 25, 2012. An apparently mentally-disturbed driver with the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC), a state-owned corporation that operates long-distance inter-district buses for public transporation, arrived at one of the bus depots in the city, started a bus and, then, went on a killer rampage, mowing down people on the way.

Eight people were killed while several others were admitted in city hospitals, few of them in critical conditions. The driver had continued his killing run for around 45 minutes when he was stopped by a college-going youth. Had not 21-year-old Sharif Ibrahim Kutty shown daring and presence of mind, the killing run of the bus may have continued for more time and many others would have lost their lives.

The driver drove at high speed and erratically, and the commuters on the roads were helpless. There was no stopping the driver.

Sharif was on his way to college on his motorcycle when he saw the bus knock down a woman and a child. The news about the berserk driver spread across the city and the police had put up barricades to stop his mad run. The bus was also being chased by the police who were attempting to fire at the tires.

When Sharif saw the bus knocking down the woman and child, he gave chase on his motorcycle. The barricades, placed at various spots, finally hindered the bus's progress and the driver had to slow down at one of the spots. This provided Sharif an opportunity to get close to the bus and enter it.

A 23-year-old police constable, Bapu Laxman Lonkar, had also managed to enter the bus after clinging on to the ladder fixed to the rear of the bus. The act of Sharif and Lonkar, to a considerable extent, helped in checking the killer run of the bus driver.