The bullet-proof jacket worn by the late Anti-Terrorist Squad chief Hemant Karkare during the 26/11 terror attack has gone missing, the wife of the slain officer has alleged, raising serious questions about the manner in which evidence in the case has been preserved.
"When his body was found, the bulletproof jacket was missing... Even at the hospital... I filed an RTI application a few months back asking where the jacket is, but the reply I got was that it is missing," Karkare told PTI in an interview.
Karkare, a 1982 batch IPS officer, was killed in an ambush near Cama Hospital, along with another IPS officer, Ashok Kamte, and encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar during the November 26 terror attack last year. Despite wearing bullet-proof jackets, the officer received three fatal bullet injuries in the chest, which raised a question mark over the efficacy of these jackets in the wake of such terror attacks.
"TV channel recording clearly shows Hemant wearing a jacket at CST and leaving in the van... so where did the jacket go? I do not know if someone took it from him after that or it was removed from his body later, but it is missing," she said.
Karkare also raised questions over the manner in which the terror strikes were handled by the Mumbai police. "I am surprised why there was no back-up sent for my husband and other officers in the van... Hemant had asked for back-up and was waiting for 40 minutes, but no one was sent," she said.
She said her husband was not a person who would prefer to sit in an air-conditioned cabin and give instructions to subordinates; instead he preferred to take situations head-on. "He being a senior officer could have sat in an air-conditioned cabin giving instructions to his subordinates, but he always liked to be on the field," an emotional Karkare said. "If a back-up had been sent as soon as Hemant had asked for it, then Kasab and the other terrorist could have been nabbed at Cama itself."
Karkare had been credited with solving the serial bomb blasts in Thane, Vashi, and Panvel. His investigation also brought forth stunning revelations of the involvement of a radical saffron group in the September 29, 2008, Malegaon blast.
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