Mumbai attacks: A tribute to fallen police officers

Mumbai, Nov 27: Three police officers, including chief of ATS Hemant Karkare, encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar and additional commissioner Ashok Kamte succumbed to their injuries in Wednesday's terror attack.

Here is a tribute to three police officers who laid down life to the country.

Hemant Karkare (1954 - 26 November 2008) was chief of of the Mumbai Anti Terrorist Squad. He was killed in 26 November 2008 Mumbai attacks. He was hit by three bullets in his chest

Mr. Karkare, who was the 1982 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, held a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Vishveshvarayya Regional Engineering in Nagpur. He also served in the Naxalite-infested Chandarpur area of the state. As ATS Chief he was also involved in the Malegaon blast probe which was subject to a lot of criticism by many Hindu organisations but he seemed very clear about what he was doing, we saw his pictures yesterday on TV he appeared calm and collected as he put on the helmet and a bullet-proof jacket before chasing the terrorists, but his brave act of fighting the terrorists personally ended in tragedy.

"Our chief Karkare, my senior officer Salaskar and ACP Kamte died while engaging terrorists outside the Cama hospital," a sobbing Dalvi told a TV channel "All of a sudden, terrorists threw grenades at Karkare leading to chaos. We are unable to confirm whether they fell to terrorist fire or were killed by the grenades."

Vijay Salaskar

Vijay Salaskar is an encounter expert of the Bombay police. Vijay Salaskar, an officer of the 1983 batch, Salaskar in his 24 years of service has eliminated many criminals. Amar Naik, Jaggu Shetty, Sadhu Shetty, Kundan Singh Rawat, Zahoor Makhanda are some of the gangsters who have fallen to Salaskar"s bullets. According to sources, the police officer had once even gone hunting for former don Arun Gawli. "But Gawli fled from the scene, forcing Salaskar to return empty-handed. However, Salaskar got even by killing his two trusted men, Sada Pawle and Vijay Tandel, in 1997, triggering allegations that the encounters were fake. After this, Gawli was so scared that during the 2005 elections, he complained to the government that Salaskar was trying to kill him and requested that he be transferred"

Ashok Kamte

Ashok Kamte's biceps are as awe inspiring as his baton. Kamte is a power-lifter and a body-builder to boot. Till now, he has broken three national records in power-lifting and won half-a-dozen gold and silver medals.

Ashok Kamte was the DCP, Zone 1, in Mumbai and was also the key officer in state police. He had also served as the commissioner of Solapur and was always known to be in the thick of action.

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