Ashok Kamte, Additional Commissioner of Mumbai Police, was critically injured in a jeep ambush while pursuing terrorists on 26 November 2008.
From Cama Hospital into the ambush
Ashok Marutrao Kamte, Additional Commissioner of Police, was with the police team that rushed to Cama Hospital on 26 November 2008, after ten armed men began simultaneous attacks across Mumbai. A firefight there forced the attackers to change position, and the team went after them.
The police jeep was ambushed. Kamte was critically injured. According to the Press Information Bureau's account of the award, he kept fighting and played a key role in injuring one of the terrorists. Joint Commissioner Hemant Karkare and Inspector Vijay Salaskar were in the same action and were also killed. All three received the Ashoka Chakra, as did Assistant Sub-Inspector Tukaram Ombale, killed the same night.
Three generations of police
Kamte was born on 23 February 1965. Wikipedia records that his great-grandfather served in the Imperial Police from 1895, and that his grandfather, Narayanrao Kamte, was the first Indian Inspector-General of Police in Maharashtra, from 1947 to 1955. Wikipedia also says that he was then responsible for Mumbai's eastern region, an area not under attack, and offered his help. His wife, Vinita Kamte, received the Ashoka Chakra on 26 January 2009. A memorial to him stands at Satara.
Official text from the Press Information Bureau
On 26th November 2008, ten heavily armed terrorists launched simultaneous attacks at various places in Mumbai. Shri Ashok Marutrao Kamte, Addl. Commissioner of Police was part of the police team which rushed to Cama Hospital where the terrorists had moved in. A firefight ensued between the terrorist and the police team. As a result, the terrorists were forced to change their position. The Police team pursued the terrorists but in the process their jeep got ambushed and Shri Kamte was critically injured. He however, continued the fight and played key role in injuring one of the terrorists. Shri Ashok Marutrao Kamte displayed courage and leadership of the highest order in fighting the terrorists and made the supreme sacrifice for the nation.
Source: Press Information Bureau release. Reproduced as printed, including any errors in the original.
Cover image: Pratishkhedekar, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Resized for this page. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ashok_Kamte_memorial,_Satara_01.jpg