BATU DAS

Batu Das was the engineer aboard the train to Rajmir, India. Having just completed a mission in India, MacGyver was anxious to get out of the country quickly, but he had missed his train connection. Instead, he followed the train in a speeding taxi, begging the engineer to allow him to board. At first Batu Das had refused, saying that it was too dangerous, but at last he laughingly agreed to slow down just enough for MacGyver to climb on board while the train was still in motion.

Hassan, the leader of a small, impoverished village, had organized his men to hijack the train in order to identify and capture two Western businessmen on board who had sold poisoned medicine to the villagers that had resulted in 26 deaths. Two of Hassan's men, Badur and his partner, were already on board the train and announced the hijacking, but MacGyver was able to use a distraction and ignited moonshine to force them from the train before he made his way to the engine to inform the engineer of what had happened. Batu Das congratulated him, thinking the danger had passed, but when Hassan's men blew up a trestle bridge on the track ahead, Batu Das was forced to bring the train to an abrupt stop.

Because Hassan did not know the identities of the two businessmen, he announced that all Westerners aboard the train would be held hostage without food or water until they themselves identified the men and turned them over to face justice. Batu Das was permitted to join the other non-Western passengers who were escorted safely to Hassan's village until the incident was resolved. Having secured Hassan's promise that the men would be given a fair trial, MacGyver fashioned a makeshift lie detector using a sphygmomanometer and an alarm clock which revealed that two of the passengers, Paul Webster and Blade, had been responsible for the tainted drugs. Following the incident, the passengers and the engineer returned to the train and were allowed to continue their journey by another route.

Portrayed by: Noël de Souza

Cross Reference: Badur, Blade, Andrea Collins, Laura Dillon, Andy Ellis, James Grant, Hassan, India, Diana Kingman, Eleanor Kingman, Peter Kramer, Lyman, Paul Webster

Episode Reference: Slow Death