The commission is examining charges that the encounter was a staged one and the two gangsters were killed in cold blood.

Mayekar said he was hit by a bullet fired by Vijay Tandel on the left upper arm and had taken first aid at the Rajawadi Hospital. Like his colleague Avinash Sawant, who was the first to appear before the commission on the Mumbai police's behalf, Mayekar too maintained that Pawle and Tandel were not accompanied by anybody else when the encounter took place.

One of the main witnesses, Baldev Singh, had earlier alleged that he along Pawle's brother Anand, sister Hausabai and Anand's wife sister Anita were in the Fiat car when Sada Pawle and Tandel were pulled out andshot by the police. The other three, who too had earlier filed an affidavit with a similar claim, have since turned hostile.

Mayekar today said he drove one of the two Maruti 800 cars which took the special team to the spot of the encounter after they received a tip-off.

Assistant Police Inspector Vijay Salaskar was at the wheel of the other car.

``At about 2.10 pm Salaskar signalled to me by waving his hankerchief. The signal meant that he had spotted the car carrying the gangsters,'' Mayekar told the commission and added that as Salaskar began following the car he joined him.

``When Salaskar intercepted the Fiat car, my car was two to three feet away from his. I saw one person getting off the Fiat car armed with an AK 56,'' Mayekar said adding that he recognised the person as Sada Pawle.

Mayekar said he then heard Salaskar asking Pawle to surrender and saw Tandel emerging from the other side of the car armed with a pistol. ``I ran between the Fiat and my car to arrest Tandel, but he fired ashot from his pistol which hit my upper arm. I, PSI Kadam and Constable Arun Jadhav then retaliated,'' Mayekar stated. He said he fired six rounds from his pistol and that he was at a distance of five to six feet when he last fired at Tandel, who fell down with his pistol in his hand.