Spends a year seeking info and gets it only after RTI
A year on, the Mumbai police have finally parted with confidential data pertaining to the death of Additional Commissioner of Police Ashok Kamte to his widow Vinita (44), a law graduate and housewife.
Vinita had appealed before the RTI commissioner after the Mumbai police did not respond to numerous requests seeking information on her husband's death.
"I received the data around four days ago, but I haven't read it as yet, but it comes after a lot of hard work.
You know, in this past year, most of my time has been taken up with writing applications and seeking appointments with officials for this data.
This meant I have lost out on family time with my children Rahul and Arjun," said Vinita.
She added, "I did not ask for much. All that I wanted to know was how my husband died that night. That information is my right and I need to know.
It's been a long and difficult wait but I finally have it now." Vinita, now, wants to focus her energy on her two sons.
Vinita claims that had the injured police officers (Karkare, Kamte and Salaskar) been rushed to the hospital in time, they would have survived.
"The irony," she said, "was that two police jeeps passed by after the shootout, but they did not come to the aid of the injured officers."
'I want my children to join the IPS'
"My husband always wanted his children to join the police force," says Vinita. "And I want to fulfil his dream.
So, when the kids [Rahul (15) and Arjun (8)] see photographs of Ajmal Amir Qasab and ask me questions like, 'Why did he kill our father? Are you going to meet him in police custody? We also want to meet him.
We want to shoot him,' I tell them they need to join the IPS, like their father, to teach people like Qasab a lesson.
Kamte Biography
Vinita has written a biography on her husband, Ashok Kamte, which will be released shortly.
The 225-page bilingual (Marathi and English) book will cover unknown facts on Kamte's life such as the Naxal threat to his life when he was assistant superintendent of police in Bhandara in 1992 and how he equipped his wife with a gun, while he was away at work.
Did you know? Ashok Kamte's grandfather Narayanrao Marutirao Kamte was the first Indian inspector general of police
