Sweeper's U-turn, says he didn't dump Karkare's vest

Mumbai: In a U-turn, a sweeper of a government hospital and key witness in the 26/11 trial who had claimed he disposed off the bulletproof jacket of slain Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare long ago on Friday said he had no idea about the protective gear.

Dinesh Gataar, a sweeper in JJ Hospital, said he had kept the jacket in a bag and placed it in a ward. He said he had no idea as to what had happened to the jacket.

Earlier before a magistrate, Gataar on Wednesday said he had stuffed the jacket in a bag and sent it to the dumping ground at Deonar for disposal.

His statement had been recorded by the magistrate on a complaint filed by social activist Santosh Daundkar praying for a probe into the missing jacket.

The magistrate had earlier ordered JJ Marg Police to register an FIR to probe the missing jacket. A year after the incident, Gataar broke his silence and said he had disposed of the jacket.

The change in Gataar's stand that he had not personally disposed of the jacket has created a flutter with police saying they will now probe who had discarded the vest.

The sweeper also said he was lured by police with a Rs 50,000 award to reveal where had he disposed of the jacket or to disclose the place if he had sold it.

"Since I had not disposed of the jacket or even sold it there was no need for me to take the offer made by police," Gataar said.

The 35-year-old hospital employee said he had told the magistrate that he had not personally disposed of the vest or sold it to anyone.

Gataar said he was on duty from 0600 hrs IST to 1400 hrs IST on November 27, 2008 in emergency ward number 4 and he found a lot of medical and non-medical waste lying there.

He also noticed a blood-stained jacket and stuffed it in a bag which was left in the ward. Karkare was killed in the terror attacks on November 26 night.

The sweeper said he had a weekly off the next day and when he reported for duty, the entire ward was clean and no waste was there. Gataar said he had no idea where the bag containing the vest had gone.