It’s been 13 years since the dreaded 26/11 Mumbai terror
attacks in 2008 took place. And to date, it manages to open up the wounds of the
families, who were involved, directly or indirectly, in the attack. It has been
a difficult journey for the loved ones of Hemant Karkare, Vijay Salaskar, Ashok
Kamte, Tukaram Omble, Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, who lost their lives while
fighting the LeT terrorists in the heart of Mumbai.

Encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar was killed among many
in the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai in 2008. Known for being a ‘one-man show’,
Salaskar did not have many star encounter specialists working under him during
his career.

He was among the frontrunners in eliminating the Arun
Gawli gang in Mumbai and Gawli is said to have feared Salaskar the most. The
top cop was credited with 70 odd encounters and won bravery awards
posthumously.

Slain
Salaskar, Hemant Karkare, and IPS officer Ashok Kamte were killed outside the
Cama Hospital in south Mumbai after Ajmal Kasab and his partner Ismail opened
fire at their police van during.

When
Kasab was given the death penalty and later hanged, Salaskar’s wife – Smita – described
the hanging of Kasab as a ‘homage’ to her husband.

“Though
the execution was delayed, Kasab was finally hanged. With this hanging, homage
has been paid to my husband. But the real homage will be the conviction of
other accused shielded in Pakistan,” PTI quoted Smita.

Kasab
was hanged ahead of the fourth anniversary of the attack and Smita said, ‘The
entire family is happy to hear the news that Kasab was hanged.

In July of
2011, Salaskar’s daughter, Divya, got a government job on compassionate
grounds.

She
got the job more than two years after the 26/11 terror strike, only after the intervention of Union Home Minister P Chidambaram. Divya was appointed as
Assistant Commissioner of Sales Tax, Mumbai.

Vijay
Salaskar hardly spent any time at home but idolised his wife and daughter. For
Divya, he was her best friend, her ‘control room’ for every problem and most
importantly, just her ‘Dad’.

In
order to pay homage to the slain top cops, a memorial was built in Kalyan. This memorial honoured the five Bravehearts who were killed during
the attack in 2008 – Hemant Karkare, Ashok Kamte, Vijay Salaskar, Sandeep
Unnikrishnan and Tukaram Ombale.

The
last conversation

In an exclusive interview, Divya recalled learning about the attack on the
television. Terrified, she called up her father, asking ‘Where are you? This
doesn’t look good.’ To which he replied, ‘I am at the spot.’ It was 11:57 PM.

And
the next thing that followed changed their lives forever. ‘Encounter specialist
Vijay Salaskar dies in the attack,’ news channels said.

Salaskar
was among the first causalities along with Karkare and Additional Commissioner
of Police Ashok Kamte.

Recap
of the attack:

The
terror attacks began on November 26 and lasted until November 29. The terrorists
attacked the city’s landmarks like Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, the Oberoi
Trident, the Taj Hotel, Leopold Cafe and Cama Hospital, among others.

The
terrorists infiltrated India through the Arabian Sea. The attacks began
around 9.30 pm when two men entered the passenger hall of the Chhatrapati
Shivaji Terminus and opened fire.

After
continued firing on pedestrians on the streets, they then headed to Cama
Hospital but soon was confronted by a team of Mumbai Police headed by Hemant
Karkare. Karkare was killed along with two other officers — Vijay Salaskar,
Ashok Kamte — in the gun battle.

Ajmal
Kasab was the only terrorist who was caught alive by the Mumbai Police.

In
an exclusive interview, six years after the attack, the then chief of
Maharashtra’s Anti-Terrorism Squad Himanshu Roy reassured that the city was safer.

He
said: ‘Mumbai ko haath lagana mushkil hi nahin namumkin hai.’