The Hindu : CISF constable kills officer, surrenders

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 25, 2003

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CISF constable kills officer, surrenders

By Arunkumar Bhat

MUMBAI MAY 24. A CISF constable, who shot dead his Deputy Commandant, A. Karanjikar, and took hostage six police personnel, including five women, at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport here, surrendered to the police top brass tonight.

Airport officials said the constable, Raj Namdeo, surrendered at 12.40 a.m. after his parents talked to him. The Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister, Chhagan Bhujbal, and the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bipin Bihari, were present when he gave himself up.

Earlier in the evening, Namdev took the police personnel hostage in the immigration detention room. He was armed with a self-loading rifle (SLR) and about 30 rounds.

Airport sources said the constable had insisted that he wanted to talk to the media first, but the authorities were reluctant to arrange such a meeting since he was armed.

Karanjikar was declared dead when brought to the Nanavati Hospital, a few kilometres away. He had taken at least five of nine bullets that Namdev fired, apparently upset that the officer had denied him leave.

As a precautionary measure, the police had evacuated the departure lounge of Terminal II C of the airport and cordoned it off.

The police and airport officers had kept an eye on Namdev and his captives using the sophisticated TV surveillance network of the airport. Ironically, the state-of-the-art surveillance system was installed to watch and detect possible terrorists and hijackers and not a policeman.

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