Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare would have survived the gunbattle with 26/11 terrorists had top state police officers not willingly approved the purchase of substandard bulletproof jackets - one of which he ended up wearing.

Headlines Today has uncovered how senior Maharashtra Police officers allowed the jackets' purchase all the while knowing that these were of inferior quality and served no purpose.



Missing file on bulletproof jackets traced

Headlines Today has also dug out 15 crucial pages from a missing file about the purchase of these jackets - pages that the Maharashtra government and the police still claim to be missing.



Jackets bought despite failing test

The pages mention that Additional Commissioner of Police Surinder Kumar had tested and trashed the jackets. In his report dated September 16, 2004, Kumar wrote that the bulletproof vests did not meet the required standards and could not protect against fire from AK-47 rifles.



The jackets were tested at the SRPF firing range and found to provide no protection against 7.62 self-loading rifles even with the ballistic plate. It only provided limited protection against firing from a 9mm carbine.



Kumar's report said the jackets weighed 5.9 kg against the specified weight of 3 kg. The front length of the jackets was 52 cm when it should have been 32-36 cm.



But these findings were ignored by then Joint Commissioner (administration) P.K. Jain and Sunil Paraskar, DCP of the Anti-Narcotics Cell.



Jain, who is now principal secretary (home), even tweaked the findings of the test. "The jackets have been tested and the results found acceptable by a committee headed by Additional CP Surinder Kumar. The issue of size and weight had already been found acceptable by the erstwhile Joint CP (admin)," he wrote.



Jain was lying. He presented the file before then Mumbai police commissioner A.N. Roy, who accepted the consignment and okayed its distribution.



Advance payments made

Not only was Kumar's test report ignored, advance payments were made on dummy bills submitted by the vendor of the jackets. The cost of the purchase was kept below Rs 25 lakh so that the matter isn't referred to the Mantralaya and the cheque issued from the police commissioner's office itself. The dummy bills were approved by Paraskar.



One of the substandard jackets in the consignment ended up on Karkare's chest on the night of the 26/11 attack and failed to protect him. Karkare was hit by five bullets during the gunbattle around Cama Hospital. His associates Ashok Kamte and Vijay Salaskar too died in the operation.



Cover-up by Mumbai Police

Karkare's death probably made the officers nervous and triggered an ugly cover-up operation. Soon after Karkare was wheeled into hospital for treatment, the substandard bulletproof jacket he was wearing went missing. It is yet to be found. The file about the purchase of the jackets too went missing.



With Karkare's widow Kavita alleging a conspiracy and a PIL being filed in the Bombay High Court, a dubious affidavit was given in court.



Dubious affidavit in HC

On March 31 this year, then Mumbai Police chief D. Sivanandan in the affidavit contested the claim that a faulty bulletproof vest was responsible for Karkare's death.



Sivanandan, who is now Maharashtra DGP, claimed the jackets had been tested and found to be satisfactory and that the petitioner was recklessly pointing fingers.



Sivanandan also did a U-turn on the status of the file related to the purchase of the jackets. While the Mumbai Police had been claiming that the file was missing, he now said a part of it had been tracked down.



Karkare's post-mortem report too nails the bulletproof jacket scam. The report states he received five bullet wounds on the shoulder blade.



Did the bullets pierce through Karkare's jacket or did the jacket not cover his shoulders at all? In both cases, it would be the most blatant violation of the basic norms for bulletproof jackets.