‘Bullet-proof jackets can’t protect from powerful weapons’

MUMBAI - The bullet-proof jacket worn by slain ATS chief Hemant Karkare returned to haunt the Maharashtra government Wednesday when the opposition Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party slammed it for purchasing sub-standard jackets.

Senior Sena leader Ramdas Kadam, who raised the issue in the Maharashtra Legislative Council Wednesday evening, alleged that the vests purchased by the government did not offer protection to the neck of the person wearing it.

Hence, Karkare died in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks as he sustained bullet injuries in his neck, Kadam said.

In a related development, an affidavit filed in the Bombay High Court Wednesday by the government made the startling revelation that the bullet-proof jackets were not meant to offer protection from powerful weapons like the AK-47 and 7.52 SLR.

The affidavit, filed by Deputy Commissioner of Police Vijay Jadhav said that the order for the jackets was placed in 2001 when a situation like the Mumbai terror attacks was not anticipated.

Hence, the jackets were meant for protection from smaller weapons like 9 mm pistol and carbines, and “not for AK-47 rifle and 7.62 SLR”, Jadhav’s affidavit said.

He added that similar jackets are still used even by the Indian “military forces”. The affidavit was filed in reply to a public interest litigation by social activist Santosh Daundkar a few months ago following the controversy over Karkare’s missing jacked.

Besides Karkare, additional police commissioner Ashok Kamte and encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar were felled by the Pakistani terrorists’ bullets on the night of Nov 26-27, 2008.

Daundkar has alleged in his PIL that Karkare died because the jackets were of a sub-standard quality and that there was corruption in their purchase.

The government had floated a tender in 2001 for the purchase of a total 110 jackets which were supplied by MS Corporation and Ganesh Yarutext in 2004.

He had earlier contended that Karkare died as the bullet-proof jacket left the neck and shoulder areas exposed.

Further hearing in the PIL will continue next month.