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Police fight terror in their own style

Mumbai: It was not a crack police team which eventually got the two suspected terrorists who were trying to escape in a silver Skoda on the night of November 26.

The real heroes who captured one of the terrorists alive were the ordinary policemen from the D.B. Marg station in South Mumbai.

At the entrance to the D.B. police station is a garlanded photo of assistant police inspector Tukaram Gopal Ombale. When the terrorist Mohammed Ajmal Amir Iman put up his hand in a mark of surrender and lay prostrate on the road at Chowpatty, Ombale rushed to overpower him. What he did not know was that Iman had his AK 47 alongside his body.

Ombale was killed when Iman fired at him, while assistant police inspector Sanjay Govilkar suffered a bullet injury.

That was the critical moment when the police had to act. Forty-one-year-old Mangesh Yende was armed with a lathi as he stood at the barricade along with six other constables. The men rained lathis on Iman till an officer told them to stop.

“We dealt with the terrorists Mumbai style,” remarked inspector Vinod Sawant, the investigating officer in the case. “This is the first time in world history that a terrorist has been captured alive,” claimed Sawant. He clarified that there was no member of the public present at the time and it was not true that Iman was beaten up by them.

At 9.45 pm on November 26, a group of 20-odd policemen from the D.B. Marg station were sent for bandobast at Girgaum Chowpatty. Senior inspector N.R. Mali said they were informed that there was some firing at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) and at five star hotels at two places in his jurisdiction. Reinforcements were sent and double metal barricades put up blocking the road.

Inspector Sawant said that at 16 minutes past midnight they got a wireless message that a silver Skoda was coming towards Chowpatty from Vidhan Bhavan. “The vehicle came very fast and stopped some 50 feet away from the barricade. The headlights were switched on at high beam and the windshield wipers were activated,” said sub-inspector Bhaskar Kadam.

For 40-year-old Kadam, who has spent 17 years with the police and is a member of the detection squad at the police station, it was his first encounter with terror. “At first, we did not think it was them. But we knew it was a silver car. They waited for 15 minutes and then tried to take a U turn to escape, but the car hit the divider on the road and stopped,” he said.

The driver, now identified as ‘Abu Umar’ or Mohammed Ismail, fired from a pistol at the posse of policemen, including Kadam and assistant police inspector Hemant Bowdankar.

“We returned the fire and injured him. At the same time, on the other side, Iman raised one hand as if in surrender. He half opened the car door and slid outside and lay on the road,” Kadam said. That’s when Ombale and the others rushed towards him. “We are lucky to be alive,” smiles Kadam. “We can’t compete with AK 47s.”

The three officers present at the site had two pistols between them — two self loading rifles (SLR). And lathis. The men with the SLRs were stationed at vantage points and only they wore bullet proof vests. The members of the detection squad were in plainclothes.

Mr. Bowdankar, who has spent 16 years in the police force, said everyone knew that the situation was dangerous. But despite the firing, no one ran away. “Without the backing of my staff, I would not have had the courage to stand there and fire back,” he said modestly. The police recovered two AK 47s, two 9 mm pistols, six magazines and a grenade from the car.

“Working for the police, you have to expect the unexpected,” said 41-year-old Bowdankar who hails from Ratnagiri. “It was a crucial encounter and we did our best.”

The silver Skoda in the backyard of the police station is a reminder of that eventful night. The glass at the rear has been shattered. Policemen potter around the vehicle for investigations.

The only thing that’s tiring the police team now is the numerous press interviews. But they are not complaining.

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