26/11 martyr Hemant Karkare's wife Kavita cremated

The mortal remains of Kavita Karkare, wife of slain ATS chief Hemant Karkare, were on Tuesday cremated at Worli in south Mumbai, a day after she died at a city hospital following brain haemorrhage.

Kavita, 57, whose husband Hemant Karkare was martyred during the November 2008 Mumbai terror attack, had been admitted to the P D Hinduja hospital on Saturday. She had slipped into coma and was on ventilator till Monday when she was declared dead.

"Her body was moved to a crematorium ground in Worli this morning from the hospital. Her son Akash conducted the last rites," said a police officer.

Among the mourners present at the crematorium ground were Maharashtra DGP Sanjeev Dayal, Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria, retired IPS officers, other senior officials from the state police headquarters, Mumbai police and state Anti-Terrorism Squad, and Karkare's family members and friends.

After her death, Kavita's two daughters and son had donated her organs to help the needy patients.

One of her kidneys went to a 48-year-old man who had been surviving with the help of dialysis for nearly a decade. He had registered for the organ last March.

The recipient of the other kidney was a patient at a leading multispecialty hospital in south Mumbai who had been waiting for a transplant for seven years.

Karkare also gave a new lease of life to a 49-year-old man who has been battling liver failure for a couple of years and had registered for the organ at a leading multispecialty healthcare centre in suburbs last December.

Her eyes were donated to Haji Bachooali Eye Bank in Parel.

Kavita was vocal about the security lapses that she felt led to the attack and her husband's death in an ambush by Pakistani terrorists on the night of November 26, 2008.

She had also been demanding better weapons, training and facilities for police personnel.

Hemant Karkare was killed along with Additional Police Commissioner Ashok Kamte and senior police inspector Vijay Salaskar when the terrorists fired at their vehicle near Cama Hospital in south Mumbai on the fateful night.

Image: Kavita Karkare, right. Photograph: Reuters