Nearly nine years after the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai, a new controversy on the sub-standard life-jackets came to light when it was found that the vest worn by slain Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare found way into a dustbin.
Karkare, 53, the then Special Inspector General of Police heading the ATS was shot dead in the Rang Bhavan Lane next to St Xavier’s College when terrorists Abu Ismail and Mohammed Ajmal Kasab sprayed bullets at a police vehicle killing top officials besides him. Along with Karkare, Additional Commissioner of Police (East Region) Ashok Kamte and Senior Inspector of Police and Anti-Extortion Cell chief Vijay Salaskar died in the shoot-out that took place when they were escaping police after the mayhem at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus.
An application filed under Right to Information Act (RTI) filed by veteran activist Anil Galgali, led to this shocking bit of information that Karkare’s bullet-proof jacket was dumped in a dustbin.
Apparently, the Mumbai police learnt about the lapse a year after 10 LeT men brought carnage to the streets of Mumbai, but chose to keep mum.
Public Relation Officer Suresh Sakpal informed Galgali that the bullet-proof jacket was thrown into a dustbin by a ward boy at Sir JJ Hospital.
Galgali has termed it abject carelessness of the statement stating that the bulletproof vest has been lost and thrown in the dustbin. “There exists a huge question mark on the quality and the standard of the bullet proof jacket. Had the bulletproof jacket worn by Karkare been examined, the whole scam in the purchase of the jackets would have stood exposed,” said Galgali.