Mumbai/Bangalore/New Delhi, Nov 29 (IANS) India, rocked and traumatised by the unprecedented terror strikes in Mumbai, bid an emotional farewell Saturday to its sentinels Hemant Karkare, Sandeep Unnikrishnan and Gajender Singh who died while battling terrorists who attacked the country's financial capital.
As terrorists Wednesday night targeted 10 prominent places in south Mumbai, Karkare, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief and a highly regarded police officer, donned his helmet and bulletproof jacket and set out to take them on. The protection, however, proved inadequate and Karkare fell to the terrorists' bullets. He was cremated Saturday in the city he tried to shield from the militants.
Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan and Havildar Gajender Singh, who belonged to the National Security Guards (NSG), died Friday. While Unnikrishnan was killed fighting terrorists holed up in the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel, Singh died during the security operation at Nariman House.
Unnikrishnan's body was taken to his residence in Bangalore Friday night and he was cremated Saturday. Singh's body was first taken to New Delhi, where senior army and paramilitary officials officers paid their tributes. It was then flown in a special aircraft to his hometown Dehradun in Uttarakhand for the funeral.
The ceremonies, which were telecast live on TV news channels, were a chilling reminder of the dangers that the men in uniform regularly face.
Karkare's body was taken in a flower bedecked open van from his home in Hindu Colony in Dadar East to the Shivaji Park crematorium in Mumbai. A crowd of nearly 5,000 lined the three kilometre stretch to pay tributes to the martyr as a police band played along.
Most important Maharashtra leaders, including Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Home Minister R.R. Patil and Mumbai Police Commissioner Hasan Gafoor, attended the funeral.
The 58-year-old Karkare, a 1982 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, was in the spotlight for leading investigation into the Sep 29 blasts in Maharashtra's Malegaon town. Ten people, including Sadhvi Pragnya Thakur and Lt. Col. Prasad Purohit, were arrested as a result of the probe.
In Bangalore, cries of 'Major Sandeep amar rahe' and 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' rent the air as hundreds followed the army truck carrying the body of Unnikrishnan.
Students in school uniform as well as hundreds of men and women walked along as the truck wound its way from the residence of the NSG commando in Yelahanka to the crematorium, about four kilometres away.
Dhanalakshmi, mother of the 31-year-old officer, was inconsolable. She swooned as the Karnataka police band sounded the bugle after a gun salute marking the beginning of the last journey of her son from their residence to the crematorium.
During the gunbattle in Taj hotel, Unnikrishnan got separated from his men but continued taking on the terrorists, according to NSG Director General J.K. Dutt.
To prevent his colleagues from getting caught in the crossfire, the officer told them to keep away. He was grievously injured and died soon after.
In New Delhi, it was a solemn moment as senior officers of the NSG, the Indian Army and the paramilitary forces paid tributes to Singh before his body was flown to Dehradun for the funeral. The brave soldier is survived by his wife.
Priyanka Vadra, daughter of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, said: 'I condole the death of those killed in the Mumbai terror attack and my heart goes to the security personnel who laid down their life battling terrorists.'
'The nation is reacting to it unitedly and we should take a resolution to fight against terror. I have also lost someone to terrorism,' she added.
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