Israeli embassy car driver baffled at turn of events

It was like any other day for 42-year-old Manoj Sharma, driver of the burnt Israeli embassy SUV, until his vehicle came under a coordinated terror attack on Monday.

Sharma, who was taking Tal Yehoshua (40), wife of an Israeli defence attache, to pick her two children from an American embassy school, barely managed to field questions of curious reporters at the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in New Delhi where he is undergoing treatment for the post-blast injuries.

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"I washed the vehicle in the morning... and then had gone to many places with the vehicle (during the day) but nothing happened....I don't know...," a lost looking Sharma said as he tried to recollect the sequence of events.

Soon after a blast occurred at 3.16 pm at a busy traffic intersection on Aurangazeb Road, engulfing the Toyota Innova bearing number 109-CD-35 into flames.

"I just felt the fire and I came out...and then brought out madam (the Israeli diplomat). I then put her inside a three-wheeler (auto) and went with her to the embassy," Sharma, a resident of Vasant Gaon, told reporters at the hospital.

He was not allowed to talk much about the incident as the investigators were looking forward to obtain vital information from him.

Sharma's wife and his uncle were the first to meet him at the hospital. An Israeli embassy official was also present at the hospital.