Slain Inspector Vilas Joshi- ‘Helpful neighbour, son and father’

As people came forward to take a last look at the man they best described as a “helpful neighbour, son and father,” the only sound audible was his wife’s incessant crying, choked voices from other relatives and dejected mutterings of his friends.

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Only a week ago, Joshi had taken his family to a picnic spot on the outskirts of Mumbai over the weekend. None of his family members had imagined that they would be sitting at his funeral a week later.

Joshi used to stay with his 86-year-old father, his wife Jyoti and twin daughters Sarika and Radhika (15), in the Tardeo police colony.

He was cremated at the Chandanwadi crematorium at 2 pm on Sunday, with several top cops, including Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria and Joint Commissioner (Law and Order) Deven Bharti, in attendance. Joshi’s relative Avinash Ghadge said, “It was hardly Vilas’ fault if his junior was not at the spot assigned to him. Shirke was probably also annoyed at being reprimanded by a cop younger than him.”

Ruksana Patel, Joshi’s neighbour of over 10 years, remembered him as a playful father and a responsible son. “He would give oil massages to his aged father, and help his children with their school work,” she said.

Doctors who attempted to resuscitate Joshi for three hours at the Lilavati Hospital on Saturday night said that his bullet injuries were so deep that his major arteries and veins had been punctured at various points. His blood pressure had dropped down to 30 and haemoglobin to a record low of two units due to massive blood loss.

He was operated upon by a team of doctors led by pulmonologist Dr Jalil Parkar. “He was brought in a state of shock and with so much blood loss, we had to put him on ventilator and resuscitate him first,” said Parkar.

Joshi was wheeled into the operation theatre to plug the bleeding points in his body. He was given 15 units of blood and doctors manually massaged his abdomen and chest for 50 minutes make his heart function.

According to a doctor treating him, his small and large intestine had perforated, and there were six major punctures in them. Additionally several arteries and veins had collapsed due to blood loss.

He was declared dead around midnight when his heart stopped functioning and resuscitation did not help.