Wives of Kamte,Karkare question clean chit

The clean chit given by the state-appointed Ram Pradhan Committee to the Mumbai Police and Government....

The clean chit given by the state-appointed Ram Pradhan Committee to the Mumbai Police and Government for their response to the terror attacks has angered the widows of two top police officers who were slain on 26/11. While Vinita Kamte,wife of slain ACP Ashok Kamte,will listen to her husbands calls on 26/11 obtained after an RTI application ATS chief Hemant Karkares widow Kavita has called the report condemnable.

Vinita Kamte has set out to establish that the lives of her husband and other officers could have been saved but for lapses on the part of some senior police officials. Currently in Coimbatore,she will on her return listen to calls made by her husband that night. I plan to take recourse to the legal path of action, Vinita told The Indian Express.

All the officers who had not performed their duties have been given a clean chit. The Government is supporting their cowardice while my husband,who had no business to be on the spot in the first place,gave his life for the nation.

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She alleged that certain portions of the call records of the police control room on the day have been deleted. There are at least 10 minutes of conversation that have been deleted. I have sought records of my husbands calls through the RTI.

Vinita said while her first RTI application to scrutinise the phone records of her husband was rejected by the Information Commission,her subsequent appeal was accepted and,six days ago,she was notified that she could come and listen to the calls.

She will be doing so on her return to Pune in the first week of June.

I have conducted my own investigations. At 11.24 pm that night,there was a call from Hemant Karkare giving the police control room all details about the situation and asking for immediate reinforcement. The control room should have taken charge immediately. The calls made between 11.03 and 11.07 by my husband,during the crucial time when the firing was on,are missing from the police logs. Why? I am entitled to an answer and I will get it. I have evidence of the lapses, said Vinita,who incidentally comes from a family of well-known lawyers and has practiced law herself.

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Meanwhile,a bitter Kavita Karkare says,If nobody had been at fault,I would not have lost Hemant Karkare.The chief of the ATS died like a dog on the street,but nobody wants to take the responsibility.

The high-level committee appointed by state Government,which submitted its report on Wednesday,had said,No police can deal with (such) a war-like situation. Kavita,however,said the contents of the report did not surprise her.

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, she said.

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