'If nobody was at fault, I would not have lost my husband'

Mumbai, May 28 (PTI) Reacting bitterly to Ram Pradhan
Committee report, which gave a virtual clean chit to Mumbai
police for the 26/11 terror attacks, wife of slain
Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare said Thursday
that had everything been hunky-dory, she would not have lost
her husband.

"If nobody had been at fault, I would not have lost
Hemant Karkare," Kavita Karkare told PTI.

"Chief of ATS died like a dog on the street, but nobody
wants to take the responsibility," an emotional Kavita said.

The high-level committee appointed by state government,
which submitted its report yesterday, had said "no police can
deal with (such) a war-like situation".

"I expected this," she said when asked to react to the
Pradhan committee report. "Somebody had already told me that
it was going to be a goody-goody report. Nobody wants to take
responsibility. Everybody is giving clean chit to everybody.

"This is highly condemnable. (Due to this) common man
would lose faith in the system. This time there was 40 per
cent voting, next time nobody would step out to vote,"
Karkare said.

She also referred two recent Naxal attacks in the state
-- after the 26/11 attack -- in which several police personnel
were killed, to underscore her point.

Kavita further said, "If nothing is wrong, police are
well-equipped, why equip them (further)? Do not equip. Do not
modernise the force."

"Where are the people who lit candles at Gateway Of India
now?" Kavita said, asking people to come forward and
"question" the clean chit to police for failing to prevent the
attack.

Asked whom she held responsible for lapses which led to
26/11 tragedy, Kavita said, "I cannot say who is responsible,
I am an ordinary woman. But state, Intelligence Bureau and all
others needed to have better co-ordination."

When asked whether she demanded to see the Pradhan
Committee report, she replied in the negative.

About the talk of her joining politics, she said, "Well,
as you can see, I have not joined any political party." PTI
KRK
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Police officer tenders evidence contrary to prosecution's case

Mumbai, May 28 (PTI) In what appears to be a set back to
the prosecution in the Mumbai terror attack trial, a police
officer Thursday said he had seen Pakistani gunman Mohammed
Ajmal Amir Kasab lying "unconscious" after a police encounter
in Girgaum Chowpatty on November 26 last year.

All along, the prosecution has been maintaining through
deposition of witnesses that Kasab was "conscious" and was
overpowered by policemen at Girgaum Chowpatty.

Police Inspector Vinod Sawant, who is the investigating
officer in this case, told defence lawyer Abbas Kazmi that he
had seen Kasab and another terrorist Abu Ismail lying in an
"unconscious" condition.

Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, asked the court
to allow him re-examine the policeman to seek a clarification
from him. Nikam said a police officer is not a medical expert
to determine whether a person was conscious or unconscious.

However, Judge M L Tahaliyani rejected Nikam's prayer
saying there was no ambiguity in what the witness has said and
hence there was no need to re-examine the witness.

Nikam said, "Kasab is a great actor. He has been given
special intelligence training by conspirators in Pakistan and
he had pretended to lie unconscious when he was confronted by
policemen at Girgaum Chowpatty. Perhaps that is why the police
inspector might have considered that he was unconscious".

Outside the court, Nikam said "the deposition of witness
will not affect the prosecution's case".

Nikam said the prosecution's case would not be affected
with the deposition of the witness because a doctor had given
evidence that Kasab was conscious when he was brought to Nair
hospital from Girgaum Chowpatty.

"In a fully conscious state, the accused had told the
doctor that his name as Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab and he was
from Pakistan. This information was also recorded in station
diary of D B Marg police station," Nikam said.

Earlier, the witness identified in the court two AK-47
rifles, two pistols, a pouch and cartridges recovered by
police at Girgaum Chowpatty after an encounter with Kasab and
his accomplice Abu Ismael.

Confusion prevailed in the court for few minutes when a
packet purportedly belonging to slain terrorist Abu Ismael was
found to contain Rs 5,400. In fact, this packet was of Kasab
and wrongly opened. Ismael's packet was separately kept in the
court and it contained Rs 5,310.

The judge even asked Kasab, "how much money did you
have?" Prompt came the reply ...Panch hazaar char sau (five
thousand four hundred).

To a question by Kasab's lawyer Abbas Kazmi, the witness
said he would not be able to make out difference between two
AK-47 rifles as all look similar.

Asked whether he had identified police officer Ashok
Kamte's AK-47 rifle with its sling, the witness said it
(rifle) also carried a number given by arms unit of police.
PTI SVS
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