Starting with CST (Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus), then moving on to hotel Taj and Oberoi and then Nariman house the terrorists attacked many places which were Mumbai's identity. It took 60 hours before all baring one terrorist could be sent to the gates of hell.
Mumbai lost many of its bravest cops in this fight. Normally many in this city would speak bad about our Mumbai police, words like Pandu are used with impunity. However very few people realise that it is the same Mumbai police which keeps them safe. Mumbai police is often said to be second only to the Scotland Yard. As compared to the rest of the country which kidnaps occur in broad daylight Mumbai remains safe only because of its dedicated police force. Sure there are few bad apples, but still we cannot deny that our police force is amongst the best in the world.
I would like to thank all those brave souls who keep us safe. Thanks for fighting the terrorists. Here are few of those brave police officers who laid their lives for their country:
Hemant Karkare: The head of Maharashtra's ATS (Anti-Terrorist Squad) he was in the line of fire for carrying out un-biased investigations about Hindu Terrorists by political partys like BJP. However when he got the news of terrorist firings, this 54 yr old lead his men against the terrorist, without caring for his life. He didn't wait for NSG commandos to come, NSG commandos came after 9 1/2 hrs, who knows what might have happened by then...
Vijay Salaskar: He was an encounter specalist, whille he lived he killed many goons who were a threat to public security. During the 1980s Mumbai was under the rule of underworld Dons. A special encounter squad was created for fighting them, since as in many developing countries criminals would get out despite getting caught by the police thanks to their political connections. So the encounter team would zap them instead of keeping them alive...and all Mumbaikars support them. He killed 75 criminals in his life time. It is such a big tragedy that he had to die in a gun fight.Here is a link to one of his interview:
http://www.rediff.com/news/1999/mar/05nandy.htm
Who can predict what tomorrow will bring?He said in that interview.....
Ashok Kamte: During his distinguished career as an officer of the Indian Police Service, Mr Kamte went after criminals and stood up to corrupt politicians earning an unusual following of civilian fans, even a fan club page on the social network, Orkut. By various accounts, his peers and civilians knew him as an extraordinarily-brave, outstanding and honest officer.Here is an link to one Ashok Kamte tribute site:
http://ashokkamte.blogspot.com/
Sandeep Unnikrishnan: He was a Major in the Indian Army serving in the elite National Security Guards (NSG) who was killed in an encounter with terrorists in November 2008 Mumbai attacks. “Do not come up, I will handle them.” These were probably the last words which Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan told his men as he was hit by bullets while engaging terrorists inside the Taj Hotel, Mumbai during the Black Tornado operation.
During the operation, when a commando got injured Major Unnikrishnan arranged for his evacuation and started chasing the terrorists himself. The terrorists escaped to another floor of the hotel and during the chase Major Unnikrishnan was seriously injured and succumbed to his injuries.
I salute them....
