The Siege - Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy
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Foreward
This book perhaps one of the most detailed book on the attacks of 26/11 Mumbai. The book has very minute details. And this is a book I would recommend to anyone who wants to know the whole event with as much detail as possible.
Before The Attack
Intelligence authorities and Maharashtra Police had started receiving intel about Lashker-e-toiba planning of a terrorist attack in Mumbai since August 2006. They received 25 such warnings in total. 3 included use of “fidayeen”, guerrilla armed with guns and bombs whose goal is to kill and maim as many people as they can. 6 warnings included mention of possibility of seaborne attack. These warnings also mentioned that 5 star hotels like Trident-Oberoi, The Taj Hotel, tourist places like The Gateway of India and The Leopold Cafe. 11 warnings mentioned that there would be simultaneous multiple attacks using AK-47s, grenades and explosives. These intelligence were delivered to RA&W by CIA. After getting such warnings, Vishwas Patil, Deputy Commissioner of Police Zone I, decided to increase the security. He went and talked to the respective authorities of the hotels, discussed the danger with them and recommended them to increase their security. He suggested 26 measures, some of them included single door for entry, metal detectors, bag checking, blast barriers, snipers on the roof, and armed police officers. At first, the hotels declined the recommendations by stating that these measures would reduce the luxurious experience of the hotel. But after a terrorist attack in a 5 star hotel in Islamabad, the hotels agreed to take some of the security measures. Other than hotel security, Patil also focused on increasing coastal security. But after talking to the DCP responsible for port security he learnt that they were under-funded. They didn’t have a single speed boat to chase suspects. He then used his own money to hire local fishing boats. Security and administration were lazy and incompetent as the study group that was responsible of making a report and suggesting new safety measures was late by many months.
David Headley
David Headley alias Daood Sayed Gilani, was one of the most important people for the mission. Without him the attack would have been delayed by a long time. Daood was half American and half Pakistani. Born to Sayed Salim Gilani (Pakistani) and
Alice Serrill Headley (American), in Washington DC, US. Shortly after his birth, his family moved to Pakistan. There he was the odd one out because of his fair complexion. Over time he got himself into smuggling. He got arrested for smuggling multiple times in US. Later, he was allowed to be free again only if he helped US authorities to catch other smugglers. His missions included him visiting Pakistan and Afghanistan. During these trips, he got influenced by Lashkar and started growing resentful towards India and wanted to take revenge from India. After trying multiple times, he was finally got recruited to collect intel for the mission in Mumbai. He was sent to Mumbai where he portrayed himself as a businessman. He had 3 wives. First, Shazia Ahmed in Lahore, second, Portia Peter in US, and third, Faiza Outalha. Out of these three, Portia Peter and Faiza tried to contact the American Authorities that their husband might be included in some terrorist. Portia even told them how David believed that September 11 attack was done rightly and US deserved it. His third wife, Faiza, went to US embassy about his frequents visits to Mumbai and how every time he came back he cursed India, how when with Lashkar, he was a devout muslim and cursed US for waging war in Iran and Afghanistan. But regardless of the complaints no actions were taken against him. In Mumbai, he even befriended, Rahul Bhatt, son of famous Bollywood director. David’s job was to roam around the city, look for targets, collect maps of the city, maps and design of hotels, etc. He would often take boat rides to look for the spots for the landing of the terrorists. A double agent of ISI named, Honey bee, was in parliament and he provided Lashkar with secret information such as police training manuals and security informations. In July 2008, David Headley started his last surveillance. Another target was added to the hit-list, Chabad House a jewish welfare centre. Other targets were The Taj, Trident-Oberoi and CST. This suggestion was given by a team of sixteen Indians Lashkar recruited to help in making the hit-list. During the last days of the mission, David was excluded from the meetings and planning as he might pass on the information to Americans. Feeling cold shoulder from Lashkar, Headley began preparing for safety of his family. He made a will and made his friend, Rana, the executor. He wanted his second wife Faiza receive $350 every month and move to Canada as soon as possible. For this, she would be given $6000 and the ticket booked. Shazia was supposed to go back to her father after the death of husband. He asked Rana to get his sons into Aitchison college, Pakistan's most prestigious private school, whose alumni is cricketer turned politician Imran Khan.
Lashkar and Training of Recruits
Lashkar was supported by the locals of Pakistan as they would do charity work like organising medical camps, providing relief during disasters, organising events, etc. This allowed them to gain more recruits. Lashkar had recruited 32 recruits for the Mumbai mission. They issued a number instead of the name. Before starting the bone-breaking 350 mile journey, the men were frisked for cigarettes, opium and tobacco, before being photographed and fingerprinted. They were not allowed to leave without an instructor for fear of contaminating the outfit. Their sleeping, eating, and praying, were regulated. Talking about the home was discouraged and they had only one monitored call per week to home.
Ajmal Kasab, the only terrorist who was caught alive by Indian Police, was born in 1987 in Faridkot, Punjab, Pakistan. Ajmal and his four siblings came from the family of goat herders which later started selling meat, a job apt for their surname "Kasab" which roughly translates to "butcher". The family was very poor, they had no toilet or electricity in their home. His father worked far away in Lahore, earning 400 rupees per week. They slept toe to foot. Ajmal was the second son, his name meant "The handsome one". In 1999, his father caught TB due to which he had to work locally earning half of his earning; forcing Ajmal to start working as a toilet cleaner at the age of 14. After working for 6 years, he switched to different job and eventually got into looting people's home at night along with Muzzafar, a friend he made. Later, they were secretly recruited in Lashkar's 2 week conversion program by an old man who fed them rice and mutton while they were trying to buy a handgun in Rawalpindi.
Chacha Zaki, one of the handler of the terrorists during the attack, came from Okara, 20 miles away from Faridkot. In 1980s, he fought in the secret Afghan War. Later on, he joined a lecturer at Lahore's university of engineering, Hafiz Saeed. In 1990, they together formed Lashkar-e-Toiba to spread a message that those who fled and their descendants could take revenge by destroying India, piece by piece. Lashkar spent a lot of money and time on the propoganda. They glorified the "martyr" or "shaheed" to attract more and more recruits. Lashkar spent about euro 1000 on each recruit for training them. Lashar had a lot of people from the army including people who left army because they lost their faith in Army and Lakshar gave them hope of liberating Kashmir from India. Over time they moved to more and more remote areas for intense training. These bases were Maskar-e-Ummalkura and the Al-Aqsa (named after the third holiest site in Islam, the mosque in Jerusalem). Here they practiced with live-fire. They hurled grenades, shot off round until their arms were numb. They climbed with packs into the icy night, as Qahafa the bull (one of the handler along with Chacha Zaki) and Al-Qama (Member of Lashkar) ambushed them, firing shots over their heads and between their feet. Towards the end of July, they were paired into "buddies" and began their two-man commando training. They learnt how to enter and clear a room, criss-crossing each other at the doorway, how to shield doors from blasts by holding a mattress against the door, how to take hostages, and take out information from them. Their final test was 3 days without food, water or maps, in the woods being hunted by the instructors. After completion of this, they received a knife, a goat and a matchbox to make their own victory meal. While on a visit to Islamabad, Headley was tasked to buy 10 bag-packs one for each attacker. The bags had "changing the tide" which Headley thought was an appropriate tag line for a seaborne attack. Meanwhile in India, the sleeper cells, code named mice or choohe bought 5 identical Nokia 1200 mobile set and sims, one for each group of 2 attackers.
Lashkar had a special room dedicated for all the information and media monitoring. The team who handled it were young unemployed IT engineers, who were codenamed "The Owls". The owls had conceived an invisibility cloak to remotely control attackers in India after they had landed. They had rented Internet phone lines and phone numbers from Call Phonex, a company in New Jersey, US. The legitimate service was popular among migrant customers who needed to make cheap calls to family and friends thousands of miles away, using a VoIP system similar to Skype. The gunmen in Mumbai would be able to use local, prepaid Indian SIM cards, to dial leased international numbers in Austria that diverted the calls via Callphonex to Pakistan. It would be difficult for Indian investigators to unravel, as everything beyond the US hub was invisible. They were given the street tour using Google Earth to train the recruits for navigating in the city and hotels.
They were now again divided into 5 teams of two members:
Ajmal Kasab and Ismail Khan
Umar and Akasha
Shoaib and Umer
Abdul Rehman 'Bada' and Ali
Abdul Rehman 'Chhota' and Fahadullah, the nephew of Qahafa.
Targets were named: Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Malabar Hill, The Leopold Cafe, The Trident-Oberoi hotel, Chabad house and The Taj Hotel. Two teams of two would focus on the last, the most important target. They were told to maim and kill as many people as possible from America, Britain, and Israel 'because these people have severely oppressed and muslims.' They were to keep in mind that 'no muslim should succumb in the attack.' Each attacker would carry RDX bomb to make it appear that there were more fidayeen fanning across the city. Ajmal and Ismail would go to CST and Malabar Hill. Shoaib and Umer would kill tourists with assault rifles and grenade at The Leopold Cafe before joining Abdul Rehman 'Bada' and Ali to raid The Taj Hotel which they were to set alight seizing hostages. Umar(real name Nasir) and Akasha would lay siege to Chabad House, capturing jews, executing them on orders. Fahadullah and Abdul Rehman 'Chhota' were to storm The Trident-Oberoi hotel killing guests and staff, before taking captives. to blend in, each Fidayeen was given fake id cards with Hindu names, showing them to be students of the Arunodaya Degree College in Hyderabad. They were asked to memorise the id and no one will suspect them, even police would be misled. The mission control room was located in Malir town, Karachi.
Each team member was given a well packed rucksack containing enough ammunition to launch a sustained terrorist attack and enough food and water to keep them going for more than twenty-four hours. There was a Kalashnikov, eight magazines-240 rounds - eight hand grenades, one bayonet, one pistol, three pistol magazines, one water bottle, a one-kilo pack of raisins and almonds, headphones, three nine-volt batteries, a battery charger and a tiffin box containing eight kilos of RDX. Supply sacks for the journey were also handed over and contained blankets, rice, flour, oil, pickles, milk powder, matches, detergent, tissue paper, bottles of Mountain Dew, toothpaste, tooth brushes, razors and towels. They were issued with new Western clothes and told to cut out the labels. All of them were handed watches set thirty minutes ahead, to Indian time. Abu Hamza (member of Lashkar) distributed an emergency money of 10,800 Indian rupees for each buddy pair, a GPS handset, and a black and silver pre-programmed Nokia 1200. Finally the men taped their AK-47 magazines together in combat configuration, allowing a rapid turn-around.
On 27th September, they set sail but due to the bad condition of the sea, they failed. Some days later they tried but failed again. They then returned back to their bases in the North. Finally after a long wait, on 21 November they were told mission was back on. on 22 November, they woke up at 5 am, did their morning prayers, packed bags and set sail. On November 23 they crossed into Indian waters. There they hijacked an Indian fishing boat, MV Kuber, to get through Indian navy patrol ships. They sailed for 36 more hours. When they saw the coastline of Mumbai, they were mesmerised by the richness and the high rise building of the city. Before landing, they killed the captain of the ship, Amarchand Solanki.
The Attack
Line Kristen was meeting a friend in the cafe when 2 young clean shaved boys got off of a yellow cab carrying rucksack. They waited for two minutes observing before taking out they AK47 and opening fire in the cafe and shooting everyone in there. People were shouting like crazy and people near the cafe went away running. Police inspector from nearby police station heard the gun fire and went towards it while calling the backup force. At first he thought it was a gang war between Russians and Israelies who used to sell drugs in Goa. After reaching the cafe, he realised that the gunners had fled towards the taj hotel. The inspector spotted, Rajvardhan Sinha, a decorated officer. When checking in with the people inside the cafe and investigating. They found two AK47 clips taped together, which is a general combat configuration for quick round change. This made it clear to the police that this was not plan of some random gangster. They investigated about the gunners. They found Line who was laying next to the dead Indian friend she came to meet. Manish Joshi, a computer operator in Taj was going back home when he spotted a woman shot. Seeing this, he assisted the woman and informed the hotel about the gunmen are coming their way. A security guard spotted two gunners running toward the hotel and carrying assault rifles from the terrace. He informed the chief security head, Sunil Kudiyadi, who instructed to immediately shut down The Taj. At that moment 5 gates were open in The Taj. The two terrorists entered the hotel along the huge crowd that entered hotel to escape the firing. These two gunmen went unnoticed even when the metal detector beeped. After entering the lobby. They opened fire on the crowd. Even at this point, the guests in the hotel thought the gunmen were firing on each other.
When Patil reached later on, one of the entrance, Times Office entrance, was still open. Patil was amazed how hotel didn't apply so many of the security protocols. Hotel's security known as black suits were unarmed and terrified. Two more terrorists entered through tower lobby and Northcote entrance. 2 weeks before the attack, armed police was dismissed because they asked to be fed on duty by which hotel management got irritated. Patil had spotted 2 injured women for whom he called medical assistance. He then spotted 3 gun men going to the 3rd floor. Judging from the distance he thought he can shoot them and a few shots will end it all here. But the gun men ducked, turned around and emptied their clips towards him. The gunmen weren't amateurs they were trained. Patil had survived but needed assistance.
11 pm, 26 November
The face of the hotel and the general manager of The Taj, Karambir Kang had reached to the hotel. When asked about the hotel blueprints by Patil, he told Patil that they can't find the person who had blueprints, CEO is locked in his office and chief chef Oberoi can't be reached. The only option was to call the hotel owner, Ratan Tata. While this was going on, Patil found his batchmate Rajvardhan and they planned to start the evacuation. They planned to evacuate the ground floor first while the gun men were somewhere else above. They planned to barricade the lifts and stairs. After looking at the dead bodies they were sure that this was Pakistani fidayeen.
Chef Oberoi decided to use the service lifts and staff areas because they were not accessible to guests so terrorists won't know about their location. Using service corridors and lifts they decided to take guests into the hotel's invite only chambers which was not even mentioned in the brochure. He discussed this with Karambir to which he agreed. By this time, media had swarmed the hotel and were live telecasting the whole event. A lot of false news were floating in the news like there were 60 terrorists roaming in the city. Captain Ravi, ex US Marine, volunteered to help people along Bob, a security company owner based in South Africa, and his ex commandos. Ravi kept his identity about being an ex marine a secret. While looking for a safe space in the tower, he found a conference room filled over 150 terrified Koreans. After moving everyone to the conference room, Bob addressed the crowd. He told them not to talk loudly, don't tell press where you are hiding, and don't sit below the chandeliers. After this, he passed on a paper asking everyone to write their name, not telling them that this was a dead list. Next, they started securing the conference room. They disable the lifts by blocking the doors using the chairs. They made some waiters to sit by the door and act as canaries. They blocked and barricaded the doors. Bob and Captain Ravi knew that they were in there for a long time. At this time, a blast shook the floor and then everyone saw the fire building up in the palace. Meanwhile police had sieved out a single number used by terrorists and put it on tapping and tracing. (The number was given in the book, but I checked it on Truecaller and it belonged to some guy, so, I am not giving the number here lest he gets spammed.)
26 November 11:30 pm
The forces were seriously underarmed. Rakesh Maria had already immediately asked for the assistance of National Security Guard (NSG), the elite anti-terrorist force. But still at this time they were in their barracks, 3 hours long flight away from Mumbai. NSG couldn't be dispatched until the state officials asked, but they were refusing to accept that they were overwhelmed. MARCOS, Indian equivalent of US Navy SEALs were more accessible. They were so close that they could have jogged to the Taj. But they also required Maharashtra Government to make a formal call to the Western Naval Command. But the officers had already discussed that MARCOS were 'the wrong dogs for the fight'. Even after 2 hours of gunmen entering Taj, only policemen had followed in led by Vishwas Patil, Deputy Commissioner of Police of Zone I.
Inside, Patil and Rajvardhan were not familiar with the hotel's layout whereas gunmen were. And, the latter were using it to their advantage. To get a bird's eye view, black suits (hotel's security) suggested that they go to CCTV room at Palace's second floor. To guide there, the black suit, Puru Petwal, who had helped to evacuate the tower lobby, volunteered. After killing and injuring all the visible guests, gunmen would go door to door and knocking saying they were from room service or from police. So in case, a guest opened the door they would kill them. CCTV systems were a mess, one screen had a lot of cameras, each switching to different locations after few seconds and moreover, none of them were marked. With the help of the black suit, they were able to check the evening's footage when the gunmen entered. They figured out that they were in pair, and that there were 4 or maybe 6 gunmen. The gunmen looked fragile but they were able to shoot AK47 using one arm like some Bollywood action movie's hero.
11:50 pm, 26 November
Joint commissioner (ATS) Hemant Karkare, was informed that the two gunmen who had terrorised CST now had moved to Mumbai's Cama Hospital, where there were 370 patients praying for their life. Gunmen had killed 3 residents of the nearby society, climbed the wall, and killed 2 staff. When Karkare called for the backup, Inspector Vijay Salaskar was sent to assist him. When they reached the backdoor of the hospital, a bloodied constable emerged from the building telling them that the terrorists were on the sixth-floor terrace. His boss had led a 6 officers team, two of whom were now dead, while others were trapped in there were badly injured. Radio traffic indicated that there were 60 state reserve police force officers in the area, as well as quick response team and an assault squad, yet no one was dispatched.
When no backup was dispatched, Karkare, Ashok Kamte (additional commissioner east), and Salaskar, along with three constable got into a jeep and went ahead to tackle the gunmen themselves. A lot of samaritans, informed police about the locations of terrorists, but because of all the chaos, a lot of those messages weren’t even passed on to the important nearby police officers. When jeep reached closer to terrorists they opened fire onto the jeep in control burst as if they were training practice. In this firing, all the policemen were martyred except constable Jadhav who was injured and had dead bodies of the other constable on him. The terrorists then got into car and roamed around the city, opening fire at crowds. When Ismail asked where they need to go, Ajmal told him that he forgot the bag with maps at the hospital. Hearing this, Ismail applied sudden brakes, making Jadhav's head hitting the metal and injuring him. One of tyre burst of the jeep so they hijacked a nearby Škoda, and went towards Chowpati. Once terrorists had left, Jadhav then radioed the information about terrorists. Meanwhile at Taj, another blast had occurred.
12:40 am 27 november
In Chowpati, police had barricaded the road, which made the gunmen stop their car. They tried to escape but their car struck the road divider and got stuck. Because of cross firing, Ismail was killed inside the car. Ajmal got out of the car and fired at the police constable, Tukaram Omble, who came toward him to catch him. Ajmal open fired in his stomach, but before he could shoot around, Omble held the gun taking all of the bullets. Before Ajmal could do anything else, the police officers surrounded him, slapping, kicking and hitting him. Before they hit too much, someone said that they need him alive. His hands were then tied down and he was put in the ambulance where Ismail's body was lying.
Ajmal was taken to Nair hospital, where he was stripped of his clothes, given hospital's cloth, cleaned and his wounds were treated. His arms were black with the gunpowder. They started recording the camera and before anyone said something, he said “I have committed a big mistake”. When additional commissioner Tanaji Ghadge asked who ordered him to do this, he responded "on order of Chacha, one from Lashkar". Everyone around them was amazed, Ajmal had coughed up the information in one go without any strictness, the information which was meant to be secret. A lot of crucial time was then wasted because AC Ghadge was asking him unnecessary and trivial questions like what bank was near their home, why did his brother get a divorce, etc. This went on quite a while. This agitated both Ajmal and the other policemen there. Later, AC Ghadge started asking important questions and Ajmal answered them without any resistance.
1:50 am, 27 November
Police had tapped into terrorists’ phone and had identified their handlers, Wasi and Qahafa. Police had heard the discussion between them, including how they have got hostages, the sounds of the gunmen beating the hostages, their plan to light fire to the 6 floor and move towards the lower floor, and how they should break the cctv cameras they see. The man behind this was Inspector Kadam. The handlers were instructing the gunmen to fire bullets and even throw grenades on the crowd standing on the road below which included police, medics, reporters, and evacuated people from the hotel. The hostages were:
K. R. Ramamoorthy
Sunil Jadhav (Taj's bellboy)
Raju Bagle (housekeeping)
Adil Irani
Swapnil Shejwal.
Florence Martis and her father Faustine Martis both worked in The Taj. They both worked in different departments because of which they got separated during the beginning of the attack. Florence went to the data center and hid under a desk there and covered it with a chair. Faustine Martis had been evacuated out of the building. Another blast had occurred shaking the floor. Due to which the sprinklers also turned on ruining cctv systems, taking away their only advantage. While trying to escape from the fire, they encountered gunmen. In this face off, Rajvardhan and Patil, lost their life. Inspector Dhole managed to escape along with few more people, but the fire had managed to disfigure him with the blisters. On the 5th floor, the hostages had been tied together. But once the terrorists went away, they managed to cut the rope. The hostages, escaped from the roof, by making a rope of curtains and sliding down it, assisted by Puru Petwal. Adil, the first person to go down, fainted and broke his ribs but he was still alive. Everyone had slid down rope except Ram. Adil had spotted a dead man who tried to escape through window but fell to his death. He had spotted another woman who was trying to escape but got stuck, she was saved as Puru and other staff of the hotel caught her in a bedsheet.
3:30 am, 27 November
Inside Crystal room, DCP Vishwas Patil along with Rajvardhan were trying to treat their wounds. They had miraculously survived the fireball. They were unaware of the fact that outside police were mourning their demise. In the tower, Bob and Ravi, got intel from Sunil Kudiyadi who was in contact with the police that them and the diners stuck in the Taj Tower need to evacuate. They all managed to reach outside without encountering any gunmen. Ravi, even carried an 84 years old woman on her back. When they had been evacuated and Ravi had met his family, he told Bob that he was a pilot in US Marine. Ravi also came to know that his 2 cousins and an uncle had been killed in Trident-Oberoi hotel. People in the chambers were making calls outside even telling the press their exact location in desperate attempt to get evacuated. Chef Oberoi and other staff came to their rescue but while evacuation, the gunmen spotted them and opened fire on the crowd. The door they were planning to escape through had been locked from outside, this was done by Bob and Ravi after their evacuation in attempt to prevent any terrorist from coming outside. Meanwhile, Chef Minocha spotted Faustine Slipping back in to rescue his Daughter.
5:15 am, 27 November
Gunmen had already killed Chef Raghu and 2 other guests. While Chef Raghu who had already accepted his fate was calm when faced with the gunmen, the other two guests were pleading and begging for mercy. They all were made to lie down on stomach and shot. Meanwhile, Florence was on call with a Samaritan Roshan who made sure she was alive until she was rescued. The Data Center was filled with smoke from the burning inferno.
Moments later in the kitchens, Faustine who was hiding along other taj staffers, gets a call on his phone. The phone being new and unacquainted with its technology. He took a lot of time to shut it off with his trembling hands. Then he moved aside the curtain to see if anyone else had heard it and in the glass he saw a face which he thought was his but was of gunmen. ACK ACK ACK, the gunmen shot him.
In Bombay hospital, Amit was waiting because his boss Chef Hemant Oberoi had ordered him to stay there. The morning had started breaking. He saw an ambulance come in with Hemant Talim, injured. Amit, decided that he will make a list of the colleagues and their room numbers. Few minutes later, Chef Nitin Minocha came on a motorcycle, carried by 2 men. He was taken inside. Later he discovered that, the chop sticks in his breast pocket had deflected the bullet going towards his heart. He still did have a bruise because of the bullet.
5:30 am, 27 November
Maria asked his subordinates to bring Ajmal from the hostel to the Crime Branch. They got him discharged against the doctor's advise. In crime branch, Kasab had realised that he is never going back home; neither alive nor dead. Maria was amused after knowing that there were only 10 people.
The sobering reality was that one man less than a cricket team had got an entire nation on the run.
7:40 am, 27 November
Remesh, who was shot in shoulder in chambers, woke up from unconscious just to know that his boss Mr. Andreas Liveras was dead, shot on the temple.
During the whole night, Navy kept firing flares to illuminate the sea, in case more gunmen come through sea in darkness.
8 am, 27 November
NSG was in Mumbai. Brigadier Govind Sisodia had informally mobilised the men shortly after 10 pm. They were ready to be deployed in under 30 minutes. Yet it took them half a day to be deployed. This made him very furious. India was facing the worst terrorist outrage while politicians were doing things incompetently.
During the briefings police had told them that there were upto 20 gunmen inside. They had unknown quantity of guns and ammo. Black cats were divided into 3 groups to take back Chabbad house, Trident-Oberoi and the Taj. It was a kill or get killed mission.
Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, was chosen to lead the Taj units. He had volunteered to join the force to Mumbai. He could have stayed at Manesar(the base of NSG) if he wanted to.
“I will stay here until the very end; otherwise the terrorists will have won.”
- Karambir Kang, when asked to take a rest.
8:52 am, 27 November
In Chabad house, 22 black cats entered the place. They killed both the gunmen. Akasha and Umar. During the operation one black cat Gajender Singh was martyred and all four hostages had been killed. Reports suggested that they had been sadistically tortured sexually assaulted and their genitals mutilated.
9:30 am, 27 November
Black cats ( NSG commandos) reached the chambers. They evacuated the people from there. Anjali pollack was rescued, she was joined minutes later by her husband. Someone even took an empty shell casing with him as a souvenir.
On the steps, Mike Pollack, took a selfie with his wife Anjali Pollack.
After this life altering incident, Mike decided to sell his hedge fund and channel the money into something useful.
During the operation, gunmen were spotted going in room 472. The black cats blasted the door using the grenade only to find that gunmen had used mattress to block the blast. Then, when black cats tried shooting them, terrorists used human shields and threw a grenade towards the team injuring 3 commandos.
9 pm, 27 November
Commandos broke into Sabina's (guest and writer) suite but found no one. In the next door they found 3 bodies, 1 female and 2 children, burned to death. They were Karambir’s family. When the news was broken to him, Ratan Tata suggested he takes a break lest too much stress breaks him too much. But Karambir had already decided he won't leave until The Siege had been lifted up and situation was controlled. Karambir had lost his workplace, his home, his family and even the photographs.
Media was still going mad, live telecasting each and every event. They had even aired that Kasab had been caught. On the phone, the handlers were urging subtly gunmen to sacrifice their life.
2 am, 28 November
Brigadier Sisodia had been informed that Trident-Oberoi was under black cats control. While going down the grand staircase in taj to rescue Florence. They encountered a gunmen who threw a grenade injuring Sunil Yadav. Black cats moved Yadav aside. Major then took cover and went to the ballroom. The commandos waited for Major’s further instructions, then radio clicked. He sounded breathless. Don't come, he rasped, “no comms and don't contact”. He added. After 30 minutes of no communication. Brigadier Sisodia was informed that Major was missing.
7 am, 28 November
When commandos went to palm lounge to check, they found martyred Major Unnikrishnan. He was lain left right in bullets.
8 am, 28 November
Soon Florence was rescued from the Data Center. She was taken home where she slipped in and out of consciousness asking for her father. Once Florence slept, 16 year old brother was instructed to check all the city morgues until his father is found. Roshan, the Samaritan who had been on call with Florence also came over to see her.
Killing the gunmen inside the restaurant proved to be harder than expected. The gunmen would hide behind 3 feet thick concrete pillar using it as a shelter. The snipers could not see inside the hotel because of the reflective thick toughened glass. On orders on Brigadier Sisodia, glass first weakened by firing a sniper close up and then blasting the window using grenade. Then crime branch and black cats together came up with an idea. Using objects like plastic coated copper wire, ball bearings, tapes, etc, they made crude grenades. They made 2 such bombs and detonated them inside Wasabi restaurant at the same time. The blast was big enough that one of the gunmen, Abu Shoib, came flying out of the window. He was immediately shot in the head to make sure he was dead.
After The Taj was under Black cats’ control and things had started to settle down. Sabina's brother and husband looked for her. They did not find her in any morgue. They did not know if she was alive or not. Using family contacts they somehow got into taj to look for her. When they went to her room, after searching around. They found her kneeling behind the diwan with her head down on the floor. She had died due to asphyxiation.
Ajmal Kasab talked under the promise that at the end of questioning he will see his 9 comrades, who according to authorities, were held somewhere else.
When that day came, he was taken past gateway of India and the taj to JJ Hospital. Where there were nine stainless steel trays with dead bodies of his 9 comrades. They were hard to look at. Too disfigured and burnt. Seeing this he pleaded to officer to take him back.
RIP
In total, 166 people were killed and over 300 injured during the terrorist attacks of November 2008. Thirty-three died at the Taj:
Vijay Banja-chef, killed in kitchens
Willem Jan Berbers - Belgian-Dutch guest, shot while he was checking in
Senator Ralph Burkei - German politician and TV producer, died from his injuries after falling from a window
Gautan Gosain-chef, killed in kitchens
Chaitlall Gunness-guest, shot in room 551
Rajan Kamble - Taj engineer, shot in Chambers evacuation
Kaizad Kamdin-chef, killed in kitchens
Neeti Singh Kang-wife of Karambir, died in room on sixth floor
Samar Veer Kang-aged five, son of Karambir
Uday Singh Kang-aged twelve, son of Karambir
Hematlata Kasipillai - Malaysian woman, her body was found in room 637
Feroz Khan-killed while visiting an MP in the hotel
Ravindra Jagan Kuwar - security officer, shot in hotel
Andreas Liveras - British entrepreneur, killed in Chambers
Douglas Markell -Australian businessman, shot trying to escape third floor
Faustine Martis - head waiter in the Sea Lounge, killed in kitchens
Zaheen Mateen - chef, killed in kitchens
Gunjan Narang - friend of Amit Thadani, shot in cellar
Nilam Narang - mother of Gunjan, killed in cellars
Michael Stuart Moss - Canadian GP, killed by pool
Sadanand Patil-trainee manager, shot in head in lobby
Vishnu Narang - father of Gunjan, shot in cellars
Rupinder Randhava-teacher, killed in Chambers evacuation
Boris Rego-chef, killed in cellars
Elizabeth Russell - nurse from Canada, shot by pool
Sabina Sehgal Saikia-writer, died in Sunrise Suite
Rajiv Sarasvati - guest, killed in room on fourth floor above Will Pike and Kelly Doyle
Rehmatullah Shaukatali - head waiter in Shamiana, shot in restaurant
Maqsood Shiekh - killed while visiting an MP in the hotel
Rahul Shinde - reserve constable in SRPF, martyred during exit from CCTV room
Hemant Talim - chef, shot in kitchens
Sandeep Unnikrishnan - Major from NSG martyred in Palm Lounge
Thomas Varghese - head waiter, killed in kitchens
Lucy the sniffer dog-shot by the Palace lobby
Mr. Ratan Tata had pledged that he will handle all the medical expenses of the injured staff. And he also provided them a safe place to stay there if they didn’t have a home to go to.