A DEEP VOID

As a reporter covering among other things, crime in Mumbai working for Times Now (A Times of India group company) and later another 24-hour English channel it was my job to regularly talk with the police.

A confirmation of a murder, a tip-off on some police investigation, a corroboration over the identity of some petty criminals or just ferreting out stories – a day would not pass when I did not speak with the Mumbai police.

We never loved our friends in uniform. And I am sure they never loved us. But the cat and mouse game of information seemed to be endless. Sometimes, the cat and mice became friends.

It’s a strange sort of friendship, but it blossoms over time. You start to respect a few good men and loath a most others.

The news of three top police officers being killed in the Mumbai attacks was hard to digest. Hemant Karkare was one officer that the force was proud of and his loss will always be felt.

Situated in zone 2 of the island city, the office of the Anti-Terrorism squad of the Mumbai police was an unending source of stories.

The boss of the squad was as many people described him – a gentle giant.

Karkare was from the 1982 batch of the Indian Police Service – the elite administrative cadre.

Ibnlive.com reports that he had returned to the state cadre (Maharashtra), after a seven-year tenure with the Research and Analysis Wing, Indian external intelligence agency, in Austria.

According to ndtv.com, Karkare was probing the Malegaon blasts case.

He was gunned down when he was leading an operation at Hotel Taj against terrorists who had taken 15 people, including seven foreigners, as hostages.

He was hit by three bullets in his chest.

The death of Mumbai’s top anti-terrorist officer is a devastating blow to a police force struggling to confine a burgeoning Islamist threat, reports the Times newspaper.

I spoke with a deputy commissioner of police after the incident and he told me that policemen are not used to being drowned in sorrow over the killings as they have to get on with the though job of policing.

This one instance, however, is an exception.