The 26/11 terror attacks threw up many controversies. Most died on their own; some were forgotten with the passing of time.
The 26/11 terror attacks threw up many controversies. Most died on their own; some were forgotten with the passing of time. But even after a year, the death of anti-terrorism squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare continues to raise questions.
Karkare, additional commissioner of police Ashok Kamte, and encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar were killed on the night of 26/11 when two of the terrorists, Abu Ismail and Ajmal Amir Kasab, opened fire on the vehicle in which they were travelling.
“I still do not have the answers to several of my questions,” said Kavita Karkare, the ATS chief’s widow. “I would like to know why it took 40 minutes for help to reach the injured officers in Rang Bhavan Lane despite it being so close to the police headquarters.”
More questions follow. Why was Karkare the only senior police officer to go to the spot? Why were ‘substandard’ bullet-proof jackets supplied to the police? Why was no investigation ordered to find out who was responsible for this? How did the jacket worn by Karkare go missing? “The questions are endless, but there have been no answers,” Kavita said.
A few days after the attack, AR Antulay, who was then the Union minority affairs minister, said in Parliament: “He [Karkare] was making an independent investigation in which he found non-Muslim terrorists involved. Whether he was just a victim of terror or something [else], I do not know. I knew him personally. I salute him.”
Antulay’s statement triggered a row because just before 26/11, Karkare and his team had busted a Hindu fundamentalist group for allegedly planning and executing the Malegaon bomb blast of September 29, 2008.
The Mumbai police have maintained that there was nothing sinister about the delay in help reaching the injured officers. They said the police control room learnt of the shootout in Rang Bhavan Lane almost 30 minutes after it took place.
The Ram Pradhan committee, which was set up to look into the lapses by the authorities in dealing with the terrorist attack, reportedly gave the police a clean chit. About a week ago, the bullet-proof jacket worn by Karkare on the fateful night was found missing.
“This definitely is a major lapse on the part of the police,” a senior home department official said. “An inquiry has been ordered to find out how such a crucial piece of evidence was lost.”
Recently, former IPS officer SM Mushrif opened a can of worms by blaming the Research and Analysis Wing and the Intelligence Bureau for Karkare’s death in his book, Who Killed Karkare?
“It is definitely a conspiracy hatched at the behest of R&AW and IB,” Mushrif said. “I have done my own investigation and learnt that Karkare had opened the sensational Malegaon blast case and people were out to kill him.
“On November 18, specific intelligence was received from the US that an LeT vessel had left for Mumbai with terrorists. R&AW and IB officers had the information, but they did not pass on the information to the Mumbai police.”
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}