Nine years after 26/11, Mumbai police set to get new bulletproof jackets

Vests worn by police were sub-standard, and no more than 110 jackets were available during 26/11

Mumbai police are set to get new bulletproof vests nine years after 26/11, when the then Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief, Hemant Karkare and his colleagues were killed due to sub-standard protection. The vests used by the police during the attacks were no match for the terrorists’ AK 47s, which claimed Karkare’s life as well as the lives of Additional Commissioner of Police Ashok Kamte and encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar that night. 

The Mumbai Police faced inadequate supply of bulletproof jackets as only 110 were ordered back in 2001. Investigations later revealed that the vests were of a sub-standard quality and could insulate the police from shots fired from 9-mm pistols alone.

The Bomb Scam

The Government had tried to procure bulletproof jackets which were mired in controversy. The 200,000-strong Maharashtra police force currently has only 2,000 bulletproof vests, which were supplied by the Centre in March 2011. The government placed an order to buy 80 bomb suits costing Rs six crore which were of sub-standard quality and never got delivered. The government lodged a complaint about the ‘bomb suit scam’ with the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) against the supplying company Techno Trade Impex and its directors Bimal Agarwal, Barkha and Kishore Agarwal.

What's new?

The new and improved vests will cost Rs 32,474 each and will be distributed among various units of the police force. Additional Director General of Police V V Laxminarayana told Mumbai Mirror “We will be dividing the vests among our forces like Mumbai Police, Quick Response Team (QRT), Force One, State Reserve Police Force (SRPF), Special Forces, Gadchiroli police and police manning Naxal areas.”

The jackets were tested at the Central Forensic Laboratory in Chandigarh and the results were positive. They were tested for the AK series of rifles, Self-Loading Rifles, MP5 submachine guns, Indian Small Arms System (INSAS) and other sophisticated weapons. "We will be testing them again once we get the delivery in June," added Laxminarayana.