E-Paper
Cop who fought Kasab at Cama Hospital deposes
Additional Commissioner of Police (central region) Sadanand Date, who fought Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab and his accomplice Abu Ismail alias Ismail Khan at Cama Hospital on November 26 last year, deposed before the trial court on Friday.
Additional Commissioner of Police (central region) Sadanand Date, who fought Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab and his accomplice Abu Ismail alias Ismail Khan at Cama Hospital on November 26 last year, deposed before the trial court on Friday.
Date, who sustained serious injuries, said he had lost most of his team members after the terrorists lobbed the first grenade.
The 1990 batch Indian Police Service officer said reinforcements and help had arrived almost an hour after the terrorists left Cama Hospital.
Date told the court that the door to the building terrace was ajar and that he was greeted with a burst of fire from the other side. Date said that just as he and his team were taking their position, a hospital employee walked out with his hands held high.
The staffer, Chandrakant Tikhe who had been taken as a human shield, gestured that the terrorists were behind the door leading to the terrace. Date said he fired a round in that direction and that Tikhe was rescued from the terrorists.
He said a grenade was flung towards the police team. After a brief spell of dizziness, Date saw most of his men had been injured. Another grenade was lobbed, he said, claiming the life of one of the policemen.
Date, who sustained serious splinter injuries to his eyes, chest and legs, said he fired 22 rounds from carbines and service revolvers.
Around 11.50 pm, he said he saw the two terrorists walk out of the fifth floor. Date told the court that he immediately informed the joint commissioner of police (law and order) about the duo moving out of the hospital. He said help reached his team members at 1.10 am.
