Mumbai remembers its heroes

Mumbai, November 26

Floral tributes were today paid to the martyrs who laid down their lives while fighting terrorists who had attacked the city on this day seven years ago.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was among the dignitaries who paid homage at the 26/11 police memorial site at the Mumbai Police Gymkhana in south Mumbai.

“I pay homage to the brave policemen who fought for Mumbai’s safety and laid down their lives for us on 26/11. We are proud of them and we will strive hard for safety and security of our state,” Fadnavis said.

“We will strengthen police force with better equipment. It is our priority,” he said.

Family members of the policemen, who lost their lives during the November 2008 attacks, were also present during the ceremony.

Similar memorial services were being held during the day at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), the Hotel Taj Mahal Palace, Cama Hospital and at Girgaum Chowpatty where braveheart Tukaram Ombale was killed while helping nab one of the terrorists — M Ajmal Kasab — alive early on November 27.

To mark the seventh anniversary, Mumbai Congress president and a local municipal corporator named a square after home guards officer, Mukesh Jadhav, who fell to a terrorist’s bullet near St. George Hospital on 26/11.

Jadhav, 23, was on patrol duty between the main and local railway lines at CST when he suddenly came face-to-face with one of the terrorists who shot him in the chest. Despite being shot, he stumbled to inform the police about the attacks which resulted in saving lives of hundreds of unaware commuters.

On November 26, 2008, 10 Pakistani terrorists arrived by sea route and opened fire indiscriminately at people killing 166, including 18 security personnel, and injuring several others, besides damaging property worth crores.

The then ATS chief Hemant Karkare, Army Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, Mumbai’s Additional Police Commissioner Ashok Kamte and Senior Police Inspector Vijay Salaskar were among those killed in the attack. — Agencies