SID chief D Sivanadan has saved the last operational SMS that Karkare sent. “During the Kandahar hijack operations, he had helped in major raids and seizure of weapons. With his background in RA&W, we had suggested his name for ATS as he was a man with nine years of intelligence. The last detail I recall is the way he presented a lavish lunch for his team when I had gone visiting there. Everything was in order, and everything was perfect,” Sivanadan says.

Vijay Salaskar (1958-2008)

‘When I said I wanted to visit him in his Bandra office one day to see how he worked, he smiled and changed the topic’

Jaidev Hemmady

The mere mention of encounter cop Vijay Salaskar sent shivers down the spines of gangsters, but his family remembers him as a jovial man who always had a witty one-liner to make everyone laugh.

Divya, Salaskar’s daughter, who is preparing for her MBA, says the man responsible for about 75 encounters never discussed his work with anyone in the family. “When dad was posted at the Bandra office a few years ago, I told him that I would visit him in office one day to see how he worked but he smiled and changed the topic. He never spoke about what sort of a day he had at work or any problems he might have faced,” says Divya, who wants to “honour dad’s wish that I study management”.

She remembers that her father’s work often prevented him from attending her school functions. “Initially, I felt dejected, but as I grew up, I accepted the fact that he was a different kind of person and I have always been proud of what he was,” says an emotional Divya.

... contd.