Hospital Sweeper Claims He Disposed Karkare’s Jacket Long Ago

In a twist to mystery behind missing bullet-proof jacket of slain Maharashtrha ATS chief Hemant Karkare, a sweeper of a government hospital has claimed that he had disposed it off long ago.

Dinesh Lalji Gatar, the sweeper, gave the statement to a magistrate, nearly more than a year after Karkare and two other senior police officers were killed by Pakistani terrorists during Mumbai terror attacks.

“On the night of November 27, after Karkare’s body was brought to JJ hospital for autopsy, I had mistakenly put the jacket along with bio-medical and non-medical waste in polythene bags which was sent to the Deonar dump grounds for disposal,” the sweeper said in the statement.

Gatar’s statement evoked a sharp reaction from Kavita Karkare, wife the slain cop.

“This theory had cropped up now because the government is under pressure,” she said, adding, “I have lost all hopes to get fair justice in this case. I do not believe in this. The government is under pressure and hence this statement at a late juncture.”

Gatar gave the statement after a case was filed by a social activist before a magistrate seeking investigation into the missing jacket.