Family members of the victims and brave hearts joined Maharashtra Ministers, top police officials and Mumbaikars from different walks of life, in paying homage to the martyrs of the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai on the seventh anniversary of the mayhem at the Police Memorial at in south Mumbai on Thursday.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was among the prominent dignitaries who paid floral tributes to the martyred police officers, at a commemoration function held at the Police Gymkhana at Marine lines in south Mumbai where a memorial has been erected in remembrance of the policemen killed in the November 26-29, 2008 attacks on Mumbai.
After paying homage to the brave policemen who laid down their lives during the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai. The Chief Minister said, “We are proud of the martyrs. We will strive hard for safety
and security of our State. We will strengthen police force with better equipment. It is our priority”.
Apart from several public dignitaries, the family members of police officers killed in the attack also laid wreaths at the police memorial. Amid the sounding of bugle by the policemen, those present paid respects to 18 security personnel, including the then ATS chief Hemant Karkare, Ashok Kamte and Vijay Salaskar, who made the supreme sacrifice during the 60-hour-long Mumbai siege — in which 166 people were killed and 300 others injured.
Memorial functions were also held at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, Oberoi Trident, Jewish Chabad house and leopold cafe, the five targets of the 26/11 attacks.
Flower tributes were also paid at the memorial of 26/11 attacks’ martyr Tukaram Omble at Girgaum Chowpatty in south Mumbai.
Omble was instrumental in catching Kasab alive at Gairgaum-Chowpatty on the night of November 26,2008. Omble, it may be recalled, had held onto Kasab even after he had been grievously injured by bullets pumped into him by the latter. Omble died he could be rushed to the hospital.
While nine of the ten terrorists were killed by the security forces during the attack, the remaining one — Mohammed Ajmal Kasab — was caught alive by the police at Girgaum Chowpatty on the intervening night of November 26-27, 2008.
After 11-month long trial that saw a trial court sentence him to death on five counts — including mass murder, criminal conspiracy and waging war against the nation and two half years of subsequent incarceration, Kasab was hanged to death in Pune’s Yerawada central prison on November 21, 2012.