Rajasthan / Bullet found in rib cage of 35-yr-old man who thought he was 'scratched by a cat'

Jaipur: There's a big difference in pain levels of a gunshot wound and a cat scratch. 

While one usually leaves a light scar with almost no blood loss, the other can be severe or fatal. But for this man from Rajasthan, it was rather difficult to differentiate the two types of injuries.

A lineman named Nemi Chand, who allegedly thought he had been scratched by a cat, had actually suffered a gunshot wound in his rib cage.

The incident happened on 16 September, when Chand was fast asleep. After feeling a slight pain in his kidney, he ignored it by thinking it was a cat scratch.

For the next seven hours, the 35-year-old forget about the pain in his rib cage was sleeping in his room with three others.

But it was not long before his roommate found an empty bullet casing next to him. Startled by the discovery, Chand finally realised the pain was not the result of a 'cat scratch'.

An x-ray revealed the bulled was lodged under his skin and missed his vital organs by a few centimeters. Soon after the scans, Chand underwent surgery to have the bullet removed on September 17.

His story is not being treated as attempted murder. The Raniwara police station has registered a case of attempted murder and investigations are ongoing, according to reports.

Two surgeons successfully extracted the bullet and cleaned the wound with sterilising fluid to prevent infections. Chand is expected to make a full recovery in a few days.

While this was a first-of-its-kind incident from India, a man in the US experienced something similar earlier this year.

The man, reportedly in his 50s, woke up in his house in Buena Vista with a sharp pain in his hip. After realising the pain was due to a gunshot injury, the man dialled the emergency number for help.