Mumbai: Umesh Chauhan is a lucky man. A bullet hit the 34-year-old celebrity content creator during the attack on actor Tiger Shroff on Sunday and got lodged in him.While his liver sustained an injury, his heart and lungs are safe, said doctors at KEM Hospital.Extraction of the bullet is tentatively planned for Wednesday, subject to anaesthetic fitness and reassessment of his clinical condition.Chauhan was evaluated by the general surgery and cardiovascular and thoracic surgery teams at KEM Hospital, where he was transferred from Cooper Hospital on Monday, and is being managed conservatively. “We still need further information on the extent of internal damage to plan our procedures accordingly. Once we start the operation, we’ll be doing everything at once, including retrieval of the bullet,” said a senior surgeon at the hospital, adding that it is after a decade that he is witnessing a bullet injury. Additional imaging and specialist assessments will be conducted prior to the procedure.Prior to his transfer to KEM Hospital, Cooper Hospital doctors recorded a gunshot wound over the left side of Chauhan’s chest. They then resuscitated him and performed X-rays and CT scans. They also inserted a central line and placed a drainage tube on the right side of his chest to let out abnormal collections of fluid, air or blood.Chauhan hails from Ambedkar Nagar district near Ayodhya. He is the first from his family to leave his hometown, Akbarpur, for big-city dreams.Arvind Chaurasia, who lives in Borivli but was his neighbour in Akbarpur, rushed to the hospital after seeing news of the attack flash on his TV screen. “His family is involved in farming. He did his polytechnic and moved to Mumbai a few years ago to work in a company,” he said.But soon, he found another passion: holding a phone camera and a mic to chase everything Bollywood, with his Facebook and YouTube pages ‘Umesh Chauhan Vlogs’ clocking over 78,000 followers and 9,000 subscribers, respectively.Chauhan lives in Mankhurd with his wife, who is seven months pregnant, and their five-year-old son. His in-laws are shuttling between Ambernath and Parel to check on him. Chaurasia said his parents have set off from their hometown and are expected to reach the city by Tuesday evening. Another friend, Arun Goud, who was looking after Chauhan’s hospital needs, said his wife has still not been informed about the bullet to avoid stressing her. His wife had left home in the early evening to be by Chauhan’s side at KEM Hospital. TOI attempted to reach out to her but could not contact her till the time of going to press.
