Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab should not be allowed to approach the Supreme Court and should be hanged publicly, says Kavita Karkare, wife of slain Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare. Reacting to the special court awarding the death sentence to Kasab, Kavita said, "I don't think this is the end of the chapter of 26/11. This is just the beginning. Now we should hang Kasab publicly and we should not give him a chance to go to the Supreme Court".
Minutes before he fell to the terrorists' bullets on November 26, Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare had wept before the then Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil, narrating the agony of being targeted over handling of the Malegaon blast probe.
Ismail Khan, an accomplice of arrested terrorist Mohammed Ajmal Amir Iman alias Kasab, is the one who gunned down three top police officials in a gun battle at Cama Hospital, according to Kasab's statement recorded by the police. Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare, Additional Commissioner of Police Ashok Kamte and encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar were shot dead by Ismail Khan.
The ATS team was sent to probe the blast at Malegaon's Bhikhu Chowk area late Monday night, Joint Commissioner of Police (ATS) Hemant Karkare said.
Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik has alleged that an Indian Army officer linked to the 2007 bombing of the trans-border Samjhauta Express train had hired Pakistan-based militants to carry out the attack.
Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil has directed the police to probe the case of the 'missing' bulletproof vest of Anti-Terror Squad chief Hemant Karkare, who died fighting terrorists during the 26/11 attacks.
'The Force One team has given the ATS a big boost. There are several commandos who are trained to fight terrorist groups and equipped with state-of-the-art arms and ammunition. We do not want this force to be lacking in anything. They are being constantly trained,' says ATS Chief K P S Raghuvanshi.
A senior police officer said information networks were strengthened following an input around 15-20 days ago that three Bangladeshis had slipped into the country and could possibly carry out subversive acts at the National Stock Exchange building and some nuclear installations in the city.
The Jamaat-e-Islami Hind has criticised Union Home Minister P Chidambaram for denying a probe in the death of three police officers, including Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare, in the Mumbai terror attack.M M Khan, president of Jammat units of Andhra Pradesh and Orissa, said there was nothing wrong in Antulay asking for a probe into the police officers' 'suspicious' deaths.
The Antulay controversy refused to die down on Wednesday with the Bharatiya Janata Party continuing its demand for sacking of the minister for his remarks on the circumstances leading to the death of Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare. "The BJP demands that A R Antulay be sacked and the Congress apologise to the nation for this. If Manmohan Singh cannot firmly deal with an erring cabinet minister, to what extent can he be expected to deal firmly against terror,"it said
Union Minority Affairs Minister Abdul Rehman Antulay has the last laugh. Neither he was made to apologise and retract his remarks on the doubts he raised over the killing of Mumbai ATS chief Hemant Karkare, nor did he get the boot, much hyped by most of the Media and sought by the BJP-led NDA Opposition.
Talking to media persons in New Delhi, Antulay denied having ever raised doubts on who killed Karkare. The Union minister added that he will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi in this regard.
Raising the issue soon after the Question Hour, senior Bharatiya Janata Party member S S Ahluwalia said the minister's statement to the media was a cause of concern.
Trial lawyer Naresh Gehi once took on the Federal Bureau of Investigation when the agency jailed an Indian American because his name and date of birth matched with those of a suspected terrorist. Gehi tenaciously fought the case against the FBI and eventually got him freed.
Were the thugs not visible to the police team in the Qualis's headlights, alerting the policemen to their presence?
Insurance industry is gearing up to clear claims from the attack on Mumbai even as many of the injured are finding it tough to produce the required documents.
Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare, who was probing the Malegaon blasts case, suffered three bullet injuries in his chest as he was leading the offensive against the terrorists in one of the places the ultras had holed out early this morning.
'It will not make any difference to our war against terror. Those persons ought to be extradited, questioned and tried over here in our courts,' says Mumbai ATS Chief K P S Raghuvanshi.
Unfazed by the controversy triggered by his remarks on the killing of former ATS chief Hemant Karkare, Minority Affairs Minister A R Antulay today said that he stuck to his stand and that both government and Congress should feel "proud" of his comments.
Outside the Karkare home in Dadar (in central Mumbai) the family preferred to grieve in private. There were officers in uniform, zealously guarding the gates, allowing only friends and family to enter. The media was relegated to the opposite side of the road.
In the TV footage of Karkare, 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. He will be remembered for his patriotism, courage and sacrifice, but he should also be remembered for the diplomatic battles he waged for India in the halls of the Vienna International Centre, says T P Sreenivasan
An anonymous caller, who used a public call office, to contact the Pune police, threatened to blow up the residence of Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) Chief Hemant Karkare "within a couple of days", a top official confirmed today.
In a U-turn, a sweeper of a government hospital and key witness in the 26/11 trial who had claimed he disposed off the bullet-proof jacket of slain Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad chief Hemant Karkare long ago, on Friday said he had no idea about the protective gear.
Among those who remembered the slain bravehearts, who fell to bullets of Pakistani terrorists while repulsing the deadly attack on this day 11 years ago, were their kin, politicians, government officials, sports persons and common citizens.
Floral tributes were paid on Friday to the martyrs who laid down their lives while fighting terrorists who attacked Mumbai on November 26, 2008.
Opposition is using a 'marak shakti' (killing power) to harm BJP leaders, says BJP's Bhopal MP.
Kavita Karkare, widow of Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad chief Hemant Karkare who was killed during the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, has died.
'Their sacrifice will never be erased from the memory of time and history'
The EC notice stated that it was a violation of chapter 4 of the model code of conduct, which pertains to maintenance of harmony between castes, communities, religious, linguistic groups.
Addressing BJP workers in Bhopal on Thursday night, Thakur had claimed that Karkare died during the attacks as she 'cursed' him for torturing her.
The Bhopal MP was pulled up and asked to refrain from making statements that go against the party's programmes and ideology
'The country needs to honour the sacrifice of Karkare and not allow deviant individuals to denigrate him and his memory'
The BJP distanced itself from her statement saying it did not agree with her, as "Mahatma Gandhi's killer cannot be a patriot".
The seventh anniversary of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, which had claimed lives of 166 people and left hundreds injured, would be observed on Thursday.
Here are some of the reactions to Pragya Singh Thakur's remarks that Godse was a deshbhakt.
Thakur will be part of the 21-member committee headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, according to a bulletin issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat.
In an apparent bid to offset BJP candidate Pragya Thakur's controversial statement against slain IPS officer Hemant Karkare, Modi heaped praises on Mumbai police.
Terming the BJP-led Maharashtra government a "total failure", Congress accused Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of giving clean chits to several tainted ministers.
'Mahatma Gandhi, even for those on the extreme Hindu Right who believe he founded the politics of Muslim 'appeasement', is suicidal to target,' asserts Shekhar Gupta.
'The supernatural always trumps the natural,' notes Amulya Ganguli.