He escaped death by a whisker to lose home, identity

By Sheikh Qayoom Srinagar, Jan 17 : Not many Kashmiri Pandit targets of militants have been as fortunate as Satish Kumar Tickoo (name changed).
He escaped death by a whisker on that fateful day in January 1990 when a ‘notorious hitman’ of the militants waited for him on the road in Kani Kadal locality of downtown Srinagar.
Tickoo was a bank officer and as such his movements could be anticipated with arithmetical accuracy. He would leave his home each day around 8.30 a.m. and would return around 7 p.m.
The hitman was waiting for Tickoo to come out on the road so that he could have a closer shot. Tickoo was about to hit the main road after passing through the narrow lane that led to his home.
Suddenly, he remembered. He had forgotten the keys of the bank’s vault at home. He turned back to get the keys.
“I must have reached back to my home to collect the keys at around 8.20 a.m. when I entered my home, I heard gunshots fired somewhere in the close vicinity. I was there with my wife, son and daughter. We locked ourselves inside.”