Maktabey was shot dead at 12.35 pm yesterday as he sat reading an Urdu newspaper on a bench beneath a footover bridge and in front of a water fountain. The bench has been scrubbed clean, but not enough to remove the blood stains. Worse still, a pool of blood still simmered below the bench, and a host of flies greeted those wanting to quench their thirst at the fountain. ``I am sick of the sight, but I simply cannot keep myself from looking at it,'' said the woman at the fountain, who closed shop soon after.

Though a large number of people were repulsed by the sight of blood, no one seemed to be interested in doing anything about it. ``I hate thesight of blood,'' remarked a teenager to his friends as he gulped down a glass of water and rushed off to the book stall nearby.

All the puddle seemed to evoke was consternation, and commuters huddled in groups near the spot, discussing the incident and loudly wishing that the site would be cleaned up soon.

Even as these discussions continued, an old man sat on the bench, unaware of what lay below him. The crowd looked on as he fought with the flies which flew irritatingly across his face, until a kind-hearted soul told him the reason. Aghast at the sight below, the old man walked off in a huff, muttering about the inefficiency of the police force.

The functioning of police was a major point of derision among the commuters. Razia, a working mother who travels daily from Mira Road to Mumbai Central, said she did not dare take her children out too often these days. Added S D' Souza, a resident of Bandra, ``The state government's plan to have a mini-TADA law will have no effect on the underworld, as themafia taps the right people.'' Nitin Gokhale, who stays in Kandivli, was more vehement: ``They (the police) won't catch anybody, they did not even go after the gunmen yesterday.''

These comments drew the ire of the Bandra railway police, who claimed that constables had been posted over 200 metres from the overbridge in front of the second class ladies compartment. Even as they rushed towards the spot, the 12.40 pm Borivli fast local came in and over 200 commuters disembarked. ``How are we supposed to go after two men in a crowd of 200, especially if we have never even seen them before in our lives?'' growled duty officer at the railway police station R Sunke.

``Even if I had been on the spot I would have thought twice before going after them. After all, they had firearms with them, I have only my lathi,'' reasoned another constable on the platform.

Later in the evening, another constable was sent to the bench along with two helpers to clean up the spot.