Omble was an ASI with the Mumbai Police. His team was under-equipped for the attack, but managed to kill one terrorist and arrest the only terrorist taken alive. Unarmed, Omble held onto the gun of injured terrorist Ajmal Kasab, enabling other officers to arrest him. In the process, Ajmal fired several shots, killing Omble.
On the day terrorists attacked Mumbai, ASI Tukaram Omble, 48, was on the night beat. At 12.30 am on 27 November he had called his family and spoken to them.
Omble's senior told him to take up position on Marine Drive on Wednesday night, after the news of firings at Leopold Cafe, Oberoi and Taj Hotels came in. Around 12.45 am, he got an alert on his walkie-talkie that two terrorists had hijacked a Skoda car and were heading for Girgaum Chowpatty. Just minutes later, the Skoda whizzed past him.
Omble jumped on to his motorcycle and chased the car. A team from DB Marg police station was setting up a barricade at the chowpatty signal. As the car approached the signal, the terrorists opened fire on the police, but had to reduce speed because of the barricades. Omble overtook the Skoda and stopped in front of it, forcing the driver of the car to swerve right and hit the divider. With the terrorists momentarily distracted, Omble sprang toward one of them, Ajmal Kasab, and gripped the barrel of the AK47 rifle with both hands. With the barrel pointing towards Omble, Kasab pulled the trigger, hitting Omble in the abdomen. Omble collapsed, but held on to the gun till he lost consciousness, which likely stopped Kasab from shooting others.
The other police, who by that time had killed the other terrorist, Ismail, captured Kasab. The investigative agencies reportedly gathered much information from the sole terrorist captured.
"I saw terrorists firing on TV and came to the station. The inspector was outside the police station and he ordered us to immediately cordon off Girgaum Chowpatty," says Sanjay Govilkar, Assistant Police Inspector (API), Mumbai Police. "There were seven policemen in civil cloths at Girgaum Chowpatty. Only I was armed with a pistol while all others carrying lathis (sticks)," Bhaskar Kadam another reveals. It was in a silver-coloured Skoda that Kasab and Ismail Khan were racing down marine drive, but they were in for a surprise at Girgaum Chowpatty. "At around 0030 hrs IST a Skoda car stopped about 50 feet from the barricade," says Govilkar. "They tried to escape by taking a U-turn. But they hit the divider and the car stopped," says another Mumbai Police official Hemant Baudankar says. "Kasab started firing from his AK47 as soon as he saw that we were coming to catch him," says Govilkar. Baudankar says that Assistant Sub Inspector Tukaram Omble was hit by the bullets as he was the first to charge towards Kasab and his associate armed with just a stick. "All those who were with Omble survived as he stood like a shield," adds Kadam. "When we saw that Omble was not letting go of the terrorist's gun, we knew we could not let his sacrifice go in vain. He held on and we completed his unfinished task," his colleague Sanjay Govilkar said.
Awards
Tukaram Omble was awarded the Ashoka Chakra which is the highest peacetime gallantry award.
He was also awarded CNN Indian of the year award under the category 'Extraordinary service to the nation'.
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