Hemant Kamlakar Karkare, AC (ⓘ) (12 December 1954 – 26 November 2008) was the chief of the Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS). He was killed in action during the 2008 Mumbai attacks. In 2009, he was posthumously given the Ashoka Chakra,[1][2] India's highest peacetime gallantry decoration.
Hemant Karkare | |
|---|---|
 Hemant Karkare (pictured while on duty) | |
| Born | Hemant Kamlakar Karkare 12 December 1954 |
| Died | 26 November 2008 (aged 53) Mumbai, Maharashtra, India |
| Employer | Indian Police Service (Mumbai Unit) |
| Known for | 2008 Mumbai attacks |
| Police career | |
| Country |  India |
| Department | Indian Police Service Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad |
| Service years | 1982–2008 |
| Rank |  Joint Commissioner of Police |
| Awards |  Ashoka Chakra |
Karkare succeeded K. P. Raghuvanshi as the Chief of ATS in January 2008 and was eventually succeeded by Raghuvanshi after he was shot dead on 26 November 2008. He was credited with solving the serial bombing cases in Thane, Vashi and Panvel, and led the investigation of the 2008 Malegaon blasts.[3]
Early and personal life
editHemant Karkare was born in a Maharashtrian family.[4]
He was married to Kavita Karkare (1957–2014), a college professor. They are the parents of two daughters and a son.[5][6]
Education and career
editKarkare did his primary schooling from Chittranjan Das Municipal Primary School, Wardha and then received his middle school and high school education from New English High School, Nagpur. He obtained a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Mechanical Engineering from Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur in 1975. After graduation he worked for the National Productivity Council of the Government of India and then Hindustan Lever Limited (now called Hindustan Unilever Ltd.), India's largest FMCG company.[7]
Police service
editKarkare joined the Indian Police Service (IPS) as a member of the 1982 batch (35RR).[8] Before becoming the ATS Chief of Maharashtra State in January 2008, he was the Joint Commissioner of Police (Administration) of Mumbai.[9] He also served seven years in Austria as an agent of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India's external intelligence agency. According to former senior Mumbai Police officer Y. C. Pawar, Karkare was regarded as very influential officer in police circles.
Malegaon investigation
editOn 8 September 2006, a series of bomb blasts took place in Malegaon, Maharashtra. On 29 September 2008, three bombs exploded in Modasa, Gujarat and Malegaon, Maharashtra killing eight people, 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 Malegaon blasts.[10] In late October 2008, the ATS arrested eleven suspects, including a former ABVP student leader Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Swami Amritananda alias Dayanand Pandey, a retired Major Ramesh Upadhyay and a serving Army officer Lt. Col. Prasad Shrikant Purohit.[11][12][13] Most of the accused belonged to a Hindutva group called Abhinav Bharat with prior links to Sangh Parivar organisations. Karkare's ATS identified, for the first time, Hindutva organisations as being responsible for terrorism in India, and political commentators began to call it Hindutva terror or Saffron terror.[14][15]
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 radical government, in an attempt to appease India's Muslim population.[16][17] These parties called him 'a traitor to the nation' for his investigation in this direction.[18][19] Narendra Modi, then the Chief Minister of Gujarat, accused the ATS of undermining the military morale.[15] 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.[10][20] Thakur was given a clean-chit in the chargesheet presented by NIA in 2016 to the court. And the court dropped charges of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) put by ATS following which she applied for a bail and the Court granted it. The bail order lied that she is "suffering from breast cancer" and was "infirm and cannot even walk without support". She is currently facing charges of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and other Indian Penal Code sections and a trial is ongoing as of April 2019.[21] She contested and won the Bhopal seat during the Lok Sabha elections of 2019.
Death
edit
Karkare, along with senior police officials Ashok Kamte and Vijay Salaskar, were killed outside the Cama Hospital after Pakistani terrorist wing opened fire on their police van.[22]
The three officers, along with 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,[23] 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.[24]
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. At this point, Jadhav was able to contact headquarters. The bodies of the dead were recovered and taken to St George Hospital.
Conspiracy theories
editVarious issues have been raised over the years about the quality of the subsequent investigation and key pieces of evidence. In an investigation, Headlines Today, an Indian news agency, found that a substandard bulletproof jacket had been issued to Mr. Karkare. Though, according to the post mortem report, the quality of the vest was not a factor in his death as bullets did not pierce the vest.[25] Concerns in the media about the quality of the vest continue[26] because the vest itself was, according to Indian authorities, misplaced in the hospital.[27]
The statement that Kasab fired "inside the car" was also rejected by the court.[28] The crucial evidence in Karkare's death - the source of bullet fired into his body was absent. The bullets did not match with few of the terrorist's recovered guns which made it impossible to decide who among the terrorists killed Hemant Karkare.[29][30][31]
In the book The Last Bullet, Vinita Kamte - wife of the Additional Commissioner of Police Ashok Kamte who was killed with Karkare in the 26/11 terrorist attacks, alleges that the Mumbai Police ignored crucial information during the attacks. Vinita claims to expose Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria's "feigned ignorance" about the deaths of Kamte, Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Karkare and senior inspector Vijay Salaskar in the Rang Bhawan Lane of Mumbai. Vinita also claims that Karkare’s repeated pleas for reinforcement to block the passage of the terrorists fleeing Cama Hospital went unheeded for over an hour.[32]
Who Killed Karkare?: The Real Face of Terrorism in India is a book published in October 2009 by S. M. Mushrif, a former senior Maharashtra Police officer who had previously uncovered the Telgi scam. The Times of India called it controversial.
In 2018, the Bombay High Court discarded a pending petition that had claimed that Karkare was not gunned down by terrorists Ajmal Kasab and Abu Ismail.[33]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Karkare, Ombale & Sharma among Ashok Chakra awardees". The Economic Times. 26 January 2009. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
- ^ "Late Hemant Kamlakar Karkare | Gallantry Awards". gallantryawards.gov.in. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
- ^ "Colleagues: Slain terror chief 'superb,' a 'daredevil'". CNN. CNN.com. 29 November 2008. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
- ^ "Cop and an Ascetic - The Statesman". www.thestatesman.com. 20 May 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
- ^ Lata Mishra (30 September 2014). "Karkare's wife dies, gives life to others by donating organs". Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
- ^ "26/11 hero Hemant Karkare's wife dies of brain haemorrhage". The Hindu. 29 September 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 7 December 2010.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "35RR IPS Cadre".
- ^ "Steel In The Driftwood". www.outlookindia.com. Retrieved 7 December 2010.
- ^ a b Rajesh, Y. P. (27 November 2008). "Karkare's response to death threat: a 'smiley'". The Indian Express. Retrieved 29 November 2008.
- ^ "India Police Say They Hold 9 from Hindu Terrorist Cell". The New York Times (Asia Pacific ed.). 11 November 2008. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
- ^ "Agent Orange". Outlook. 24 November 2008. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
- ^ The meaning very clearly was, don’t get us favourable orders: Malegaon SPP Rohini Salian, The Indian Express, 13 October 2015.
- ^ Bidwai, Praful (8 November 2008). "Saffron Terror". Frontline. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
- ^ a b Editorial (15 November 2008). "Hindutva's Terrorism Links". Economic and Political Weekly. 43 (46): 5. JSTOR 40278164.
- ^ "Arrests of 'Hindu terrorists' embarasses [sic] BJP". Hindustan Times. 28 October 2008. Retrieved 28 October 2008.
- ^ "'I'm not ready to believe that Sadhvi Pragya Thakur is a terrorist'". Indianexpress.com. 17 November 2008. Retrieved 7 December 2010.
- ^ Rajdeep Sardesai, Voting with our heads[dead link], Hindustan Times, 12 December 2008.
- ^ Malegaon case: Was there a 'message from top' to Rohini Salian, asks Congress, Firstpost, 25 Jun 2015
- ^ "Colleagues: Slain terror chief 'superb,' a 'daredevil'". CNN.com. 29 November 2008. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
- ^ "'She got bail on health conditions': Malegaon blast victim's father moves NIA court against Sadhvi Pragya contesting". DNA India.
- ^ Stephen Tankel (2016). Storming the World Stage: The Story of Lashkar-e-Taiba. Oxford University Press. p. 278. ISBN 978-0-19-933344-8.
- ^ "Witness account of Karkare, Kamte and Salaskar's death". India Express. 29 November 2008.
- ^ PTI (10 January 2009). "Injured Ajmal killed Ombale: Maria". Mumbai: Mid-day.com. Retrieved 7 December 2010.
- ^ Ali, S Ahmed (21 November 2009). "Karkare death not due to faulty jacket". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 10 September 2011.
- ^ "Lies, betrayal and denial in Bombay". Hindustan Times. 3 July 2010. Archived from the original on 9 July 2010.
- ^ "Karkare's bullet-proof vest misplaced in hospital: Police". Indianexpress.com. 11 June 2010. Archived from the original on 26 January 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2010.
- ^ "Constable in jeep exaggerated: Court". 4 May 2010.
- ^ "Evidence is weak, I didn't kill Hemant Karkare, Vijay Salaskar: Ajmal Kasab".
- ^ "26/11 court's observation on Karkare's death buried by media". 3 June 2010.
- ^ "Evidence is weak, I didn't kill Karkare, Salaskar: Kasab". The Economic Times.
- ^ "Slain cop's wife writes tell-all book". Hindustan Times. 26 November 2009. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
- ^ "Bombay High Court refuses to order probe into former ATS chief Karkare's death". The Hindu. PTI. 28 January 2018. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 20 April 2019.