Bengaluru entrepreneur says he was almost killed by a water tanker: 'India is not a safe country'

Dhruv Bhatia (left) said the incident made him realise that some people have no regard for laws or human lives. (Image credit: @north_star_says/X, representational photo of tanker)

A startup founder in Bengaluru has claimed that he was almost killed by a water tanker on Wednesday. Dhruv Bhatia, the founder of LocalPanda, said that he survived being run over by the vehicle twice -- once when he was walking on the side of a road and it nearly brushed past him and second when he accosted the driver and he drove the tanker straight at him. The incident happened at Kudlu Gate in South Bengaluru.

"I almost got killed (on purpose in cold blood) in Bangalore today. I didn't want to post this, but since this is the first time something like this happened to me, I thought it's my moral responsibility to post it," Bhatia wrote on X.  "I was walking outside my apt complex in Kudlu Gate when a water tank tempo almost hit me when I was walking on the side of the street... Angry, I yelled at the tempo driver as I was shocked that he came so close."

He added that after being shouted at, the tempo driver stopped and waited for Bhatia to come close to him and then appeared to swear at him.

"I yelled back and said: 'You almost ran me over a*******' (in Hindi)," the founder said, adding that after a few bouts of shouting, he turned to walk away when he suddenly noticed the driver driving the tempo right towards him off the road. "I had to jump to the extreme left very quickly and being a large tempo he couldn't manoeuvre it further left which is why I survived otherwise this would have been 'just another hit-and-run case'. There was only one onlooker present and the tempo quickly left the scene," he wrote.

Bhatia added that although road rage is common in the country, the water tanker driver's intent on hurting him physically left him in shock. It also made him realise that India is not at all.

"While I had heard of countless such cases happening with women across the country, this is the first time someone tried to kill me in cold blood on purpose," he said. "I have seen a certain disregard of fear of law and humanity in a certain percentage of our population because of which some people can commit heinous acts very easily... India is not a safe country at all and you may not believe this, but just one small argument could be your last breath."

Bhatia further urged people not to get involved in arguments with strangers since "some people have 0 regard for human life or laws".

This also comes a day after a drunk bouncer from Koramangala was arrested for attacking a car with a baby onboard fuelled by road rage.