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He mistook attackers for college students

MUMBAI: Sub-inspector Bapurao Sahebrao Dhurgude had approached the young men only to warn them. He had spotted distant figures with backpacks approaching the Cama hospital lane. He thought they were college students. He wanted to tell them that heavy firing was going on in the area and that they had better move quickly to a safe place.

It was the night of November 26, 2008. And the two men were the heavily armed terrorists Mohammad Ajmal Amir Iman and Mohammad Ismail.

They sprayed Dhurgude with bullets. Three hit him in the chest and two wounded his hands. Although armed with a pistol, he had no time to use it.

Dhurgude, 49, of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad, was on a 12-hour duty from 9 p.m. on November 26 to 9 a.m. the next day. He was positioned on the main road in front of St. Xavier’s College.

“There was no police personnel on the main road. Dhurgude was standing alone between the hospital and the college,” said Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria. What the police now know was gathered from Kasab’s interrogation.

In the firing, Dhurgude’s cell phone was lost and his family could not contact him. The following day, his family got a call from his friend informing it of his demise. The media had also reported the tragedy.

Dhurgude’s 18-year-old son Vishal and 21-year-old daughter Poonam, sit close to their mother Aruna Dhurgude, 39, whose poignant silence speaks volumes of her sorrow. Vishal, Poonam and another sister Neelam, 19, have all to finish their education.

“Father would encourage us to pursue higher education,” says Poonam. She is currently in her final year of a Computer Science course. The other two siblings are studying Engineering.

The family will be residing in the police quarters for the next three years after which they will shift to a house arranged for them by the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority .

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