Hemant Karkare

Hemant Karkare
Police career
Country	Anti-Terror Squad
Department	Indian Police Service officer
Service years	1982-2008
Rank	Joint Commissioner of Police (ATS Chief)
Awards	Ashoka Chakra

Hemant Karkare (Marathi: हेमंत करकरे) (12 December 1954 – 26 November 2008) was the chief of the Mumbai Anti-Terrorist Squad. He was killed during the 2008 Mumbai attacks after being shot three times in the chest. His bravery was honoured with the Ashoka Chakra on 26 January 2009.

Karkare succeeded KP Raghuvanshi as the Chief of ATS in January 2008 and was eventually succeeded by Raghuvanshi after he was killed on 26 November 2008. He was involved in the investigation of the serial bomb blasts in Thane, Vashi and Panvel, and led the investigation of the 29 September blast in Malegaon.

Education and career

Karkare came from a Maharashtrian Karhade Brahmin family. Karkare obtained a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Mechanical Engineering from Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur. After graduation he worked for National productivity council, Government of India and then Hindustan Lever Limited now Hindustan Unilever Ltd., India's largest FMCG company.

He joined the Indian Police Service (IPS) as a member of the 1982 batch. Before becoming ATS Chief of Maharashtra State in January 2008, he was Joint Commissioner of Police (Administration) of Mumbai Police. He served seven years in Austria in the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India's external intelligence agency. According to former senior Mumbai Police officer Y.C. Pawar, Mr. Karkare was regarded as 'very, very honest' in police circles.(Times of India Nov.28 2008)

Malegaon investigation

On 29 September 2008, three bombs exploded in Modasa, Gujarat and Malegaon, Maharashtra killing eight persons, and injuring 80. Several unexploded bombs were found in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Hemant Karkare, as the chief of the state Anti-Terror Squad, led the investigation into the 2008 Malegoan blasts. In late October the ATS arrested eleven suspects, and alleged that some radical Hindu groups were behind the blasts.

Opposition parties, including the Bharatiya Janta Party and Shiv Sena, and Hindu organizations alleged that the arrests were made under the pressure of the incumbent government, in an attempt to appease India's Muslim population. Some BJP, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) leaders accused the ATS of being used as a tool to attack the Sangh Parivar and of using illegal detention and torture.

Death

At 9.45 p.m. while having his dinner at his Dadar residence, he received a call about a terrorist attack at C.S.T. (earlier V.T.) station. He switched on the TV for news and left at once with his driver and bodyguards for C.S.T. There he donned a bullet-proof vest and helmet(shown on news channels live then), and went to Platform No.1 but found it deserted. He was then informed that the terrorists had moved to the Cama and Albless Hospital (in brief Cama) next to the Azad Maidan police station. At the police station he met Addl. Commissioner, East Region Ashok Kamte who was summoned for his cool temper and negotiation skills and Sr. Inspector Salaskar, who was returning from Colaba after interrogating detained persons. The operation was difficult as it was dark and the terrorists were well prepared and virtually on a fidayeen mission. When these officers with a few constables went to Cama from the back side and Kamte fired at the terrorists, the terrorists retaliated with a hand grenade. Kamte then suggested to confront the terrorists from the front entrance of Cama. So a couple of constables were stationed at the back entrance of Cama and the rest boarded a Qualis jeep of an ACP. As they were moving, Salaskar asked the driver to let him drive. About that time, they heard on the wireless that the terrorists were hiding behind a red car. As they turned from the Crime Branch office towards Rang Bhavan looking for the red car, near the Corporation Bank ATM, they saw a terrorist running. Kamte or Salaskar or both fired, the bullet hitting the terrorist on his arm, his AK-47 fell down. He was Kasab, the lone terrorist captured alive later. As they were thinking of getting down, the second terrorist, Ibrahim Khan fired a volley of bullets on them and all but one Assistant Police Inspector Jadhav died. ( Times of India 19 Dec. 2008 )

Hemant Karkare, Ashok Kamte, Salaskar and others laid down their lives fighting terrorists during the Mumbai attacks, on 27 November 2008 in a narrow lane between St. Xaviers College and Rang Bhavan, just a stone throw away from the Crime Branch office.

Indian Express quotes statements by Constable Arun Jadhav, who was with the officers Hemant Karkare, Vijay Salaskar and Ashok Kamte when they died. The three officers and four constables had received information that Sadanand Date had been injured in the gunfire at the Cama and Albless Hospital for women and children. Located at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), a ten-minute drive from the hospital, they took a Toyota Qualis and proceeded in that direction. Salaskar was driving, Kamte in the passenger seat, Karkare in the second row, and the four constables, including Jadhav, were in the back row of seating. According to Jadhav, five minutes later, two terrorists stepped out from behind a tree and opened fire with AK-47 automatic rifles. The six policemen, other than Jadhav, were all killed quickly in the gunfire. Kamte was the sole officer who managed to retaliate, wounding terrorist Ajmal in the arm. The wounded Jadhav had no opportunity to render assistance. The two terrorists approached the vehicle, dumped the bodies of the three officers on the road and, leaving the constables for dead, proceeded to Metro Cinema. Upon arrival, they aimed three bursts of automatic fire at the police and press vehicles drawn up at that location, then drove off towards the government offices (Vidhan Bhawan) in South Mumbai. Here again they fired several times. While attempting to leave the area, one of the tires of the vehicle burst, so the terrorists departed to obtain another. At this point, Jadhav was able to contact headquarters. The bodies of the dead were recovered and taken to St George Hospital.

Controversies

Initial Response

A few days after the 26/11 Mumbai attack which took away Karkare's life, in December 2008, when the Minority Affairs Minister A R Antulay expressed doubt that terrorists had killed Karkare, Kamte and Salaskar, he drew a lot of flak and his party, embarrassed, distanced itself from the claim after which he changed his statement and said that he had not questioned who killed the three officers but rather who sent them in the direction of CAMA hospital.

Bullet Proof Jack goes missing

In response to a Right to Information (RTI) application filed by Karkare's wife, Kavita Karkare, the Maharashtra government told her that the jacket Karkare was wearing on the day he was killed has been misplaced in the chaos. Earlier to this RTI application, the Maharashtra government was in the midst of a controversy over the quality of bulletproof jackets provided to the Mumbai Police.

Court Inconclusive on who actually killed Hemant Karkare

But now with Justice Tahaliyani's verdict which pronounced Kasab quilty of waging war against India, a stunning conclusion which was largely ignored by the Indian Media was that according to ballistic experts Hemant Karkare was not gunned down by Pakistani terrorist Kasab and his accomplice. Constable Jadhav, the sole survivor and eye witness to the killings of the three officers, Karkare, Salaskar and Kamte was branded a "liar" by Justice Tahiliyani, who went on to say that Jadhav's version was wrong. It should be noted that Constable Jadhav changed his version a few times.

Former IG of Police Maharashtra has serious doubts that Ajmal Qasab was the killer

This confirms what SM Mushrif, former IG of Maharashtra, suggests in his book Who Killed Karkare? that Karkare was not killed by Pakistani terrorists who attacked the Taj. Mushrif accuses India's intelligence agency, the Intelligence Bureau (whom he openly accuses of spreading Saffron Terror in India) to have used the attack on Mumbai to get rid of Hemant Karkare since he had been uncovering Hindutva links of bomb blasts which had been rocking major cities in India

PIL filed in Supreme Court on India

In May 2010 a Public Interest Litigation as filed by Radhakant Yadav to probe into Karkare’s killing. Radhakhant is a 3-time Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Madhepura constituency in Bihar (India). The PIL was rejected by Supreme Court on May 12 but granted liberty for the petitioner to approach High Court. The petition "submitted that there was an abject failure of the state of unparalleled magnitude in protecting the citizens of the country from terrorists, including the death of officers like ATS chief Karkare". Radhakant Yadav believes that Hindu fundamentalist groups are resposible for the killing of Karkare.

See also

• Sandeep Unnikrishnan
• Vijay Salaskar
• Ashok Kamte
• Sadanand Date