Mumbai Police files case to find Karkare's missing jacket

Mumbai, Dec 8 (ANI): The Mumbai Police at JJ Marg police station here has filed a case, to find the missing bulletproof jacket of former Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare.

On Monday, the Mazgaon Metropolitan Court had asked the Mumbai Police to investigate the case of Karkare's missing bulletproof jacket.

The orders of the court have come after the complaint was filed by Santosh Daundkar, who had moved the court, saying that the bulletproof jacket had gone missing from Sir JJ Hospital, where the body of the slain ATS chief was taken for autopsy, after he was shot dead at Cama Hospital during the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks.

Kavita Karkare, the wife of former ATS chief had earlier filed an RTI to know about the quality of the bulletproof jacket, but in response she was told that the jacket had gone missing.

Following this, Kavita Karkare had raised several questions with respect to the treatment given to the martyred heroes of the country, while the government spends crores of rupees to conserve the bodies of the terrorists.

"I have repeatedly met senior police officers to find out how my husband died but no one has given me any answer. I have been told that I will never know how he died. Even his bulletproof vest has gone missing - the vest's procurement file marks it missing. I always suspected they would say that the jacket has gone missing," she had said.

On behalf of the government, Home Minister P Chidambaram tendered an apology to the Karkare family.

Hemant Karkare was shot near Cama Hospital on the night of 26/11, along with IPS officer Ashok Kamte and encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar.

Although the three officers were wearing bulletproof jackets, they received bullet injuries on their chests, which have put up several questions over the effectiveness of these jackets provided to the officials on the night of 26/11 to counter the terrorists. (ANI)