Weeping into the police wireless set, his right arm shattered by bullets, Arun Jadhav managed to tell the control room on the night of 26/11, “I am Salaskar saab’s Arun Jadhav.” He had lain under a pile of corpses in a police vehicle as Ajmal Kasab and Abu Ismail drove it off, then watched as the duo hijacked a sedan. His boss ‘encounter specialist’ Vijay Salaskar was lying dead in Rang Bhavan lane, along with two other senior policemen Hemant Karkare and Ashok Kamte.
Jadhav’s message on the wireless was critical. Kasab would be arrested alive ten minutes later. “We lost lives that day, but the Mumbai Police killed one terrorist and took one alive,” says the head constable. “It’s the army that otherwise tackles terror. The Mumbai Police did well, and we are better prepared now.”
Arun Jadhav took bullets in his arm during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. Express Photo/Amit Chakravarty
Jadhav believes the Mumbai Police is now better prepared to handle terror attacks in the city, with the inclusion of Force One. Express Photo/Nirmal Harindran
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