Karkare, Kamte and Salaskar...was it premeditated?

Karkare, Kamte and Salaskar were some of the finest officers of our security force. Its so unfortunate that all three of them travel in the same car towards the CAMA Hospital and gunned down by the terrorist. Even in their wildest dreams they may not imagined a fate like this. My deepest condolences to their family, I salute you , let your souls rest in peace...


Karkare (54), who was probing the Malegaon blasts case. He was hit by three bullets in his chest.Ashok Kamte had earlier served as the commissioner of Solapur. Kamte was always known to be in the thick of action.

Vijay Salaskar was a nightmare for the criminals, here has more than 80+ encounter killings to his credit.

Witness account on the killing

Karkare, encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar and Additional Commissioner of Police Ashok Kamte, who were all travelling in the same vehicle, were shot dead along with three constables by the terrorists.

The top officers were on way to Cama Hospital, just a 10-minute drive from CST station, to check on another injured officer Sadanand Date.

"When we were informed that Sadanand Date has been injured at the firing in Cama Hospital Karkare, Kamte, Salaskar and four constables left from CST to the spot.

"Five minutes later, two persons carrying AK-47 rifles emerged from behind a tree and started firing at out vehicle," said Jadhav, who was hit by two bullets in his right arm and is recuperating in the Bombay Hospital.

Sitting on his bed on the 14th floor of the hospital, Jadhav, who has been in the police service for the past 12 years, said the exact number of shots fired at the police car was not known, but the three top officers and as many constables were killed on the spot. Jadhav was the only person in the vehicle who survived.

"I have been working with Salaskar my entire police career but I could not do anything to save his life," he said with tears rolling down his eyes.

While Salaskar was at the wheel, Kamte was in the front seat and Karkare in the second row with the four Constables, including Jadhav, at the back seat.

"The two terrorists then came up to our vehicle and pulled out Karkare, Kamte and Salaskar's bodies out and threw them on the road. Thinking that we (Constables) are also dead, the terrorists then got into the car and started driving towards Metro junction," Jadhav said.

Pre-meditated?

Looking at the sequence of events , doesnt it look like the events of killing these officers a pre-planned operation. I am not saying all three officerts were their targets, but atleast one of them was their target, the terrorist has the entire information about their movement how their target is going to come, where they can target them etc.,

Media Mela (Fest) Exclusive!!!!!!!

I think more than anybody else media people had an exciting 50 hours... They looked the most happy about the on-going situation by saying .."Exclusive News" ..."Exclusively on this channel only"..."Exclusive Photos"..."Exclusive video footage"....

If it was a normal day, then the V.P. Singh's (our former Prime Minister) death might have covered with detailed case study on how he died, what was his last words and interviewing his friends by asking..now hes dead , how do you feel... etc., With the terrorist thing on their top priority, the coverage of V.P Singh's was shorter than a normal advertisement time slot...

Here is some glimpses of how news hungry our media people are......

(Media Mela)

They are not concerned with what is happening inside, they are more concerned on how to capitalize the entire event....we have seen some prominent movie makers also giving their point of view on the attacks....which means in short you will be able to see a movie based on this story titled "MARCOS" "WOH 26 Tariq" "Mumbai Meri Jaan" or any other which can bring in contrevesy / crowd ...which might be even funded by some corporates and they will stage the scene in such a way that, they made this movie to show the patriotic feeling..... This is what is happening through out....

We forget whats happening ....we stick out views through the media...if 6 out of 10 channel says a particular person is a good person , we start believing it....at some place the media people should draw a line to themselves and show their solidarty for the country as well... the way some of the journalist talk to the victims or ask such stupid questions make us feel are they really doing reporting or something else...

Here is a brief interaction of a Journalist of a famous TV channel and a victim who just walked out of the hostage situation....

Journalist : Abhi aap ko kaisa lag raga hai ? (how are you feeling now?)

Victim : Much better....

Journalist : Aap ko kisne bachaya hai ? ( Who helped you to get out the hostage situation ? )

Victim : Commandos

Journalist : Aap ne Terrorist ko dekha hai ? (Have you seen the terrorist?)

Victim : Nahi, mein mera kamre mein bandh tha ( No, I closed myself in my room)

Journalist : Room me light aur TV aur kahene peena ka suvida nahi tha? (Did you had light, TV and arrangement for food and water in the room)

Victim : Nahi, Security reason ki wajah se light aur tv bandh kiya tha (No, due to security reasons the TV and light were switched off)

Journalist : Kya aap sashen ko is ka zimmedar manthe hai? (Do you blame the government for this? )

What kind of question is this, for every thing that goes wrong the first thing any journalist from any tv channel will ask this question "Kya aap sashen ko is ka zimmedar manthe hai?" or "Kya police time nahi pounchi?" or " Kya police is ke zimmedar hai?".......

Unfortunely their fest on live coverage ends now, but this is not the end of it they have more hot and spicey news...now they will interview as many dead people's family as possible...train them with the words what to say, how to blame the authorities etc., and goes live with that....

For them its a business....you are sad...we will cover it and make money out of it...you are happy...we will cover the news and make money out of it....you are sick ....we will cover it and make money out of it.....all you need to do is give us exculsive pictures and exculsive interview....we just need news....we are not concerned the city is burning, the city is attacked by terrorist , our coverage can create problem in the investigation or on going combing operation...we are not concerned with that...all we want is the news....Exclusive!!!!!!

At the Line of Fire without Bullet-proof vests...

I really appreciate the bravery , efforts and dedication put by the Mumbai Police Team in this entire 50 hour ordeal. But does that mean you can be at the Line of fire without Safety Vests? As far as I can see in these pictures none of the policemen has any kind of security vest or bullet proof jacket to protect themselves from the terrorist fire....

(Policemen preparing for Line of Fire)

(Policeman at Taj)

(one of our Mumbai Police Guarding the Oberoi Trident Entry )

Note : This post is not insult your bravery or solitary or questioning your integrity , but just to point out how careless you have been...We have already lost 14 heroes from your department we dont want to loose any more....

Is PM / CM's visit at the combat site justified ?

Was there a need to visit the terror combat locations / areas which was recently attacked by the terrorists by our ministers ?

1. Cheif minister of Maharashtra
2. Sonia Gandhi
3. Manmohan Singh
4. R.R. Patil
5. Narendra Modi

These are some of the brave hearts who visited the combat location...for what to get them selves killed? or they were very sure that nothing will happen to them...is this something to think about?

Your soldiers and commandos are trying their best to combat the situations with the out-dated technology gadgets (as compared to the terrorists) , your news channels are spreading the news that RDX and other IEDs are found outside Taj / Trident hotel, was it a wise move by these leaders to visit these locations...

What were they trying to prove? they are as brave as their soldiers? (god-forbid) what if any one of the explosive goes off at the time of their visit? What if one of the terrorist fires these guys through the hotel window?

There were at least 3-4 terrorists escaped from various locations, and their whereabouts are yet to be determined...in this situation was the political visit really needed? cant they have a press meet at a secure location and pass their message to the people (if they want to take the political advantage of the situation)...

What were they thinking???? If anything happened to them wont that be "a feather in the cap" of the these terrorists? Or they were very sure that the terrorists will not shoot / attack at them???......

Unanswered Questions....

1. Why was morphine gas or tear gas not used in Nariman Bhavan (Chedda House) when they zeored on the location of the terrorist? (the question can be applied to Oberoi / Taj, but still the authorities can state that , its not used for the because there were lot of hostages in Hotel, but Nariman Bhavan there were only 5 hostages...)

2. How come the government allowed the live broadcast of the operations? (even if the terrorists are not watching the television live, they can have local support or some other means to communicate the people outside and get the updated information...)

3. Dont you think the media was partner with terrorist? (not in terms of the support, but in terms of execution, the whole idea of terrorist was to create terror and havoc in the society...dont you think the media has helped them in glorifying the terror events by saying two commandos were killed, ATS chief is killed etc., on the ongoing basis....havent the media helped the terrorist to acheive their goal?. Why did the government allow the boardcast at the first place? to make the terrorist motive a sucessful one?????)

4. What was the motive of the terrorist? Was it to create terror by killing people? If so they had ample chance to kill all the people who was staying the hotel, who were holed up in the ball room to save themselves? The actual action against terrorist started only after 17 hours of the seige...why havent they killed those many people who were unarmed and helpless??? Was killing people their only movtive? Was our government negotiating with the terrorists or their masters?

5. The way the encounter specialist and the ATS cheif shot was very dramatic and unbelievable , was it pre-meditated move by the terrorists?

6. Why our commandos are equipped with such low end gadgets, compared to terrorists...None of the commandos are carrying instruments like thermal heat sensors, night vision googles, communication gadgets etc., they were relying on the age-old walkie talkie models where the spectrum can be identified by the terrorist with simple equipments and monitor all the messages send / received by the commandos...

7. Why none of the operations look like a terrorist combat operation , instead it was looking like a team of red cross crops....trying to help the victims to reach hospitals....

8. 50 hours of continous combat...is it humany possible? or are we missing something , the estimated terrorists are much more than what we can think of...where by they are operating in shifts???

9. How come the constables standing infront of Taj / Oberoi was without bullet proof vest, are they sure that the terrorist were not going to use that exit?

These are some of them......many more to follow.....

Is this how we Combat Terrorist?

Although I am not a security expert or nor I work for Navy or Army or NSG , here is some of things which I can point out as a flaw in combating terror.... (note this is not to insult any one, we are proud of our Army / Navy and other personals invovled in the Mumbai 26/11 operations)

1. When the Terrorist holed in to the hotels and took hostages , cant we pump in sleeping gas through the central a/c (as both the hotels has Central A/c Systems implemented) make them asleep then enter into the permises with Gas Mask?

2. The security personal cut-off the television connections after 18-hours of the attack, in that mean time the terrorist were watching the TV channels for the updates on what is happening... which unit is going to come and when they will reach and how they are planning to attack...

3. Why our media people has to be so hungry to be on the exclusive news , even if it means it is a matter of National Security? Why couldnt the government ban the media in the affected areas till the operation is over? We could see some of the journlist standing next to the combat person and reporting what are they trying to prove their news reporting is more important than national security?

4. It was very sad to listen from a commander in MARCOS (Marine Commanders) that the terrorist has the full idea about the hotel layout and we were not very clear with it? So what do think before entering into this building? going for a cup of tea?

5. Again the same commander was disclosing this information National television..."It was too dark, we couldnt see what was happening inside, and the terrorist got used to the darkness so they could find way out easily"....helloooooo wake up , there is something called "Night vision glasses" which is used in most of the operations like this....

Even if you havent used the Night Vision goolges , atleast dont blabber things like this on a situation where the entire international community is looking at our news on how we are tackling the terror situation...

6. " the terrorists had released some kind of gas, making it difficult for the commandos to fire" There is something called "Gas Mask" used in operations like this , which is used to avoid situations like this....

These are some of the areas as a lay person who dont know anything about the combat or fighting terror can point out...

Our country has the 3rd largest army in the world, and the best of the combating forces for gurellia warfare...even with these credentials why we missed on simple points like this?

As base solider or commando...before entering into to combat, there are checklist made, situations analysed , estimation of the enemny and their wepeons are taken into account, the blueprint of the building / location where you are going to combat etc., are considered before entering into the field....but these operations looks very unorganized and most of the time (even after 50 hours of the attack) there are no figures on how many terrorist were there , how many are killed ...no idea about that...i am not even mentioning the possiblity of the terrorist escaping in disguise as a hostage or a commando there were no cross checking on people coming out ...

Have we combated terror???

Where is Navnirman Sena and Shiv Sena?

Dear Mumbaikars

Where is Raj Thackrey? Where is Shiv Sena? Why there is not even a single statement from any of these guys in last 48 hours???

Is their show off on people courtesy and "Marathi Manoos" just to fill in their vote banks? Are they really concerned about any of these happenings apart from dividing the people in terms of language and state?

Will they come and announce that only Marathi Commandos will save Taj, Nariman House and Oberoi ? 90% of the MARCOS and the NSG are South Indians or North Indians...whats their stand on this?

Do you think really these leaders or their so called parties has any inclinations to happenings in the city? Have they done one single contribution in the rescue or helping the victims or announcing the aid etc., ?

All the other leaders including Narendra Modi (whos in Gujarat) has visited the spot (even if its for some political reasons ..) have any of these Sena leaders visited??? Where are they holed up???

Mumbaikars...is this the time to think about it....

The choice is urs....