from
President Pratibha Patil on
26 January 2009 At around 9:45 p.m. on 26 November 2008, while dining at his residence in Dadar, Karkare received a call reporting terrorist gunfire at
Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST). Switching on the television to confirm the news, he immediately left for CST with his driver and bodyguards. Upon arrival, he put on a
bulletproof vest and helmet—images later broadcast live by news channels—and began coordinating the police response. Finding CST deserted, Karkare was informed that the attackers had moved towards the
Cama and Albless Hospital for women and children, located near the
Azad Maidan police station. Upon receiving reports that Assistant Commissioner
Sadanand Date had been injured in the exchange of fire at the Cama Hospital, Karkare, along with Additional Commissioner of Police
Ashok Kamte and Senior Police Inspector
Vijay Salaskar, proceeded towards the hospital in a
Toyota Qualis SUV, and grouped with several officers at the front entrance of the hospital, who were armed with pistols, revolvers, and
World War 2 era
Lee–Enfield bolt action rifles. The 3 officers, along with 2 constables, decided to approach the rear entrance, and with Salaskar was driving, Kamte sat in the passenger seat, and Karkare occupied the middle row. As the Qualis approached the rear entrance of Cama Hospital, the two terrorists—later identified as
Ajmal Kasab and Ismail Khan—who escaped from another entrance of the hospital, emerged from behind a tree and opened fire with
AK-47 rifles. Kamte managed to return fire, reportedly injuring Kasab in the arm, but the volley of bullets fired by Kasab and Khan struck Karkare, Kamte, Salaskar, and the constables. Karkare, Kamte, and Salaskar died on the spot from the bullet wounds inside the SUV, while 2 constables, Arun Jadhav and Yogesh Patil, though seriously wounded, survived by feigning death and hid in the 3rd row seats. The attackers then dragged the bodies of the dead officers out of the vehicle, commandeered the police van, and drove towards
Metro Cinema, where they continued their assault, leading to more casualties, including that of the wounded constable Yogesh Patil in the 3rd row of the Qualis, after his phone rang. As the tires of the Qualis burst due to gunfire, Kasab and Khan carjacked a Skoda Octavia, and headed towards Juhu. At that point, an severely wounded Jadhav contacted police headquarters through wireless radio, and based on the information, the DB Marg Police station set a roadblock near Girgaum Chowpatty. At the roadblock, despite warnings to surrender, Khan and Kasab refused and tried to escape, which failed. Moments after their failed escape attempt, a shootout took place at the Skoda, killing Khan, but led to the capture of Kasab, along with the death of
Assistant Sub-Inspector Tukaram Omble who tried to disarm Kasab. The bodies of the slain officers were subsequently recovered and taken to
St. George Hospital. Kasab was subsequently slapped with various charges during the trial, including the murder of Karkare, Kamte, Salaskar, and Omble.
Conspiracy theories Various 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. Concerns in the media about the quality of the vest continue because the vest itself was, according to Indian authorities, misplaced in the hospital. The statement that Kasab fired "inside the car" was also rejected by the court. 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. 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.
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. ==See also==