By Vikas Datta New Delhi, Nov 28, : The government can call on a whole phalanx armed, specially trained personnel to respond to terror attacks.However, in most cases this is after the terrorists have attacked.Although the police are usually the first to respond, they can be resisted by inspiring leadership and committed personnel until reinforcements arrive.26/11 was no exception.It was full of examples of how Mumbai Police personnel, at all levels, acted on the ground in order to contain the LeT terrorists until the armed forces and NSG arrived.
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Hemant Karkare and Ashok Kamte, Vijay Salaskars, Vishwas Nangare patil, Sadanand Data, Shashank Shinde were just a few of the brave souls who set out to confront the situation, even though its full extent was not obvious.
Unarmed Assistant Sub Inspector Tukaram Omble bravely confronted Ajmal Kasab, the terrorist who had killed the first three in their carnage and took the entire gunburst in his chest.This prevented him from hitting anyone else and, more importantly, made sure he was captured alive.
ACP, Azad Maidan and Isaque Ibrahim Bagwan were the next to arrive.They used their meager resources – twelve and a half policemen with self-loading rifles, tear gas guns, and a single tear gas gun – in order to confront and restrain the terrorists at Chabad House.
He was unable, however, to storm it with his small force.
Bagwan, who was an SI in Mumbai Police in the mid-70s, is credited with the first recorded encounter’ killing of Mumbai Police officers.
He commanded the siege at Chabad House almost alone and, while he couldn’t stop the terrorists from killing the rabbi, his wife, and four other people, he made sure that other residents of the densely packed area were evacuated and that the terrorists were pinned down.
Bagwan tells us this in his engrossing autobiography, “Me Against the Mumbai Underworld”, (2018).
He had just returned home at 9 p.m.when Hasan Ghafoor, the Mumbai Police Commissioner, called him and asked him if he wanted to go to Cafe Leopold, where there were reports that there was firing.He reached the Taj Mahal Hotel with his driver and a wireless operator.
However, Bagwan was informed of the attack and decided to go there.However, an informant told him that there had been a blast on Colaba Road.
Local people informed him that terrorists had made their way towards Nariman (Chabad), and he ran to get there knowing its importance.
He saw the building in darkness and requested assistance from the Control Room.
In the meantime, he called out local residents, who knew him well from his previous service, and organized evacuation of more than 300 people from all nearby houses.Initialy, an SI and three constables with SLRs arrived to help him, followed by nine near-rookies from the State Reserve Police, armed first with.303 rifles, and one tear gas gun.
“Terrorists attacked us.They want to destroy our city using their bombs and weapons.You are all brave men.Don’t lose heart.This city needs your help.Fight like the warriors of Shivaji Maharaj.He told his team to show terrorists what he was made of, according to his account and that of Rakesh Maria, then JCP, Crime (and later Police Commissioner), in his “Let Me Say it now” (2020).
Bagwan’s leadership was so impressive that his few men kept the terrorists on the top floors of the building.They were driven back every time they attempted to escape from the ground floor.
Indian intelligence agencies intercepted the communication between the terrorists and their handlers.It indicated their desperate need to be “surrounded from all sides” from what they believed was a large force.
However, it was only 20 men at most until the NSG arrived the next day (November 27).Finally, the building was secured on November 28th morning.
Bagwan was stopped from attacking a house from a neighboring building by placing doors to make a bridge after Maria, who was manning Control Room, stated that they couldn’t afford to lose any more men.He also informed Maria of the deaths Karkare, Kamte and Salaskar.Salaskar was photographed next to a terrorist, still clutching a pin of a live bomb.
In its observations on Nariman House, the Pradhan Committee stated: “Here, the situation was managed almost single-handedly Shri Isaque Ibrahim Bagwan of ACP Azad Maidan division.Who deserves high praise for containing the terrorists and keeping them pinned down till the NSG arrived on the 27th.The Committee found that ACP Shri Bagwan acted with great presence and mind in pinning terrorists down and saving lives almost entirely by himself.
Bagwan was awarded his third President’s Police Medal of Gallantry for his actions.This was a quarter century after his first two medals (in 1984 and 1985).
In 2010, Bagwan was granted special permission for him to wear his uniform again, having retired in mid-2009.
(Vikas Daatta can be reached at [email protected]).
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