Sydney cafe siege: Infosys employee numb with shock, recalls nightmare

Guntur, Dec 17: Just a day after the Sydney cafe siege, the Infosys employee who escaped death is back at home, numb with shock but composed. Precisely, he could not throw much light on what happened inside the cafe.

However, of whatever could be figured, all was not really well inside the Lindt cafe that fateful day. Ankireddi Viswakanth Reddy told his family members back in India,"I kept myself cool all through the 16-hour ordeal and took the first chance to jump out of the cafe soon after armed police commandos stormed in."

Following this, he spoke to his panic-stricken parents and parents-in-laws after his release at 4 am. Vishwakant reportedly sat to the door and grabbed the first chance to run out of the cafe when the commandos stormed in. "We initially thought that it could have been an attempt of armed robbery. We realized later that hostage taker's intentions are different," he said. He further added that the hostage-taker did not ill-treat them at any point of time. However, he did say that he would shoot if anyone moved here and there.

He further said,"I told him that I am an Indian when he asked for my identify." The terrorist allowed him to take a chair and sit, he said. He then called his wife Shilpa and informed that he was fine inside the cafe. Just after that, his phone was snatched.

Surprisingly, some of the hostages were extremely patient and knew that the police will do something to help them. However, there were others who were panicky and shocked. The assailant did not allow the hostages to talk to each other and wanted silence.

Viswakanth further added that the hostage-taker shouted something in Arabic that could not be followed by any of them. "I am confident of coming out safely as it was not an isolated case of kidnap where assailants would not take chances if something went wrong with the commandos. There were too many people inside the cafe," he told his in-laws.

His family members believe that Vishwakanth could keep his cool because of the Sainik school training. "Although, he looked completely comfortable and calm, he was exhausted due to the long hours of detention and hence shared only brief details," Gurava Reddy, father-in-law of Viswakanth.

They refused to comment any further, requesting some private time with family.

OneIndia News