The Chief Information Commissioner of Maharashtra, Ratnakar Gaikwad, has recommended a judicial inquiry into the alleged discrepancies in call records maintained by the police control room during the terror attack in the city on November 26, 2008.
Vinita Kamte, wife of Ashok Kamte, a police officer who was killed in the attack, complained to the commission that the call logs had been tampered with. She alleged that Rakesh Maria, the then Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime, who was in charge of the control room, failed to send reinforcements in time, causing the deaths of Kamte and the officers Hemant Karkare and Vijay Salaskar.
Mr. Maria is now the City Police Commissioner.
Ms. Kamte told The Hindu that she now hoped that the truth would finally come out. “I have been fighting for over five years to bring out the truth. My husband and other officers could have been saved if reinforcements were sent on time. The order is a vindication of my claims, and I am going to fight till the end,” she said.
In his July 9 order, Mr. Gaikwad recommended that the State should order an inquiry headed by a sitting or a retired judge.
In November 2009 and February 2010, Ms. Kamte, through two petitions submitted under the Right to Information Act, procured log sheets of the wireless communication between Mr. Kamte’s van and the control room on the day of the attack. She alleged major “discrepancies” in those records.
Ms. Kamte then filed a complaint with the commission under Section 18 of the Act. Mr. Gaikwad asked the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Wireless, Mumbai Police, to conduct an inquiry into the allegation. In 2013, the DCP dismissed the charge. Ms. Kamte then made a fresh application with the commission.
EmbarrassmentA senior police officer told The Hindu that while the State government would decide on whether a judicial inquiry must be conducted or not, the recommendation for it did cause embarrassment to the force.
