On the night of 26 November 2008, Gautam Adani, then the 10th richest man in India, was having dinner at a restaurant in Mumbai’s luxury Taj Mahal Hotel when he saw gunmen barging in, firing in all directions and hurling grenades.
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| Gautam Adani is is the world’s third richest man – behind Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. Photo: GettyImages via BBC |
Ten heavily armed militants, all Pakistani nationals, had arrived by sea that evening, split into groups, hijacked vehicles and attacked targets, including two upscale hotels. The 60-hour siege of the city left 166 dead and soured ties between India and Pakistan.
Mr Adani later told India Today magazine that hotel staff had quickly corralled the diners in a basement for a couple of hours, and then moved them to a hall on an upper floor even as the bloody mayhem continued outside.
There were 100 guests packed into the hall – “some hiding under sofas, others taking evasive positions” – praying for their lives. Mr Adani recounted that he had sat on a sofa, told the trapped guests to have “faith in God”, and made phone calls to his distraught family in his native city of Ahmedabad, more than 500km (310 miles) away, as his driver and security guard waited anxiously in his car outside.
After spending the night in the hall, Mr Adani and fellow hostages were taken out through the rear entrance after commandos cordoned off the hotel next morning. “I saw death at a distance of just 15ft [about 5m],” he told reporters after returning to Ahmedabad on his private jet later in the day.Full Story
