“We were driving slowly ahead when we spotted the red car. Even as we were about 100 metres from the car, there was sudden firing from the left side through trees. We were caught unawares and Karkare, Salaskar and Kamte died on the spot. Kamte was firing with his AK-47 even as he succumbed,” recalled Jadhav.

The terrorists continued firing, injuring Jadhav and killing others. As their dead bodies slumped on him, he heard the terrorist opening the vehicle door and removing the bodies of the ATS chief and other cops from the front seat. While entering the vehicle, the terrorists took Karkare’s AK-47 rifle and ammunition.

“I remained slouched as I was alone on the back seat. All the others were dead. The only thing they said when they removed Karkare’s body was ‘jacket hai’ in a Punjabi-Hindi accent,” said Jadhav.

The terrorists then drove towards the Mantralaya and got off at Inox. “The tyre burst and they stopped the vehicle. They got off and threatened the driver of a Skoda or Honda City, and fled in that vehicle towards Girgaum Chowpatty,” said Jadhav.

As soon as they got off, Jadhav alerted the police control on wireless about the terrorists and was rescued by cops, who rushed him to Bombay Hospital.