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Police remember their fallen heroes

Last updated on: October 21, 2009 17:41 IST

Image: Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan pay respect at a memorial along with state DGP SS Virk
Photographs: Sahil Salvi

Maharashtra Police cannot afford to be careless after having borne the brunt of the Mumbai terror attacks, the state's top cop said in Mumbai on Thursday.

"Forces should be ready to tackle surprise attacks. We should not be careless," Director General of Police S S Virk said when asked about lessons learnt after 26/11 terror attack.

Police remember their fallen heroes

Image: Slain ATS chief Hemant Karkare's wife (in pink) breaks down during the ceremony
In 2008-09, about 833 police personnel across the country have sacrificed their lives safeguarding the nation's internal security. Among them 72 are from Maharashtra, he said.

Police should be fully prepared to tackle any kind of "surprise" attacks by terrorists or Naxalites.

On naxal attacks, Virk said terrain and topography are against the forces, but "we are prepared to tackle them".

Police remember their fallen heroes

Image: A moment of silence

Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, city Police Commissioner D Sivanandan, state police officials and family members of slain policemen were also present on the occasion.

In the last three decades, the Mumbai Police has shot more gangsters affiliated to the Dawood Ibrahim network as compared to his arch-rival Chhota Rajan.

While the crime branch of the Mumbai Police eliminated 167 members of the Dawood gang, it killed 144 of Chhota Rajan men in encounters in the last 29 years, an RTI reply said.

Police remember their fallen heroes

Image: Policemen observe a moment of silence
Photographs: Satish Bodas

The data also shows that some 37 different gangs operated in the underworld of India's financial capital.

Some prominent gangsters shot by the Mumbai police encounter squads were affiliated to groups led by Swatantra, Arun Gawli, Guru Sattam, Abu Salem, Amar Nayak, Chhota Shakeel, Robber, Ashwin Naik, Amar Nayak, D K Rao, KhandaniKhor and Dhananjay Shetty.

 

Police remember their fallen heroes

Image: Policemen fire in the air to pay respect to their fallen colleagues
Photographs: Sahil Salvi

The documents also stated that the encounters started in the early 1980s.

The deaths were limited between one and five every year until 1990, when the figures multiplied by more than 20 times.

The information was received by Mumbai based RTI activist Chetan Kothari.

According to the data, the Mumbai Police has gunned down more than 1,000 gangsters of different underworld groups in the last 29 years.