Colleagues praise 'daredevil' anti-terror chief

By Eliott McLaughlin
CNN
(CNN) - Hemant Karkare, the slain anti-terror chief in Mumbai, India, was a shrewd and unflappable investigator whose death is a blow to a police force that has difficult work ahead, his colleagues said this week.

According to accounts in Indian newspapers, Karkare, 54, was credited with solving many crimes and did his job apolitically and with the utmost integrity.

"The state Anti-Terrorism Squad has lost a daredevil officer in Hemant Karkare," Peter Lobo, anti-terrorism chief inspector in the nearby city of Pune, told The Times of India on Thursday.

Karkare, head of Maharashtra state's Anti-Terrorism Squad, was heading home Wednesday when he learned gunmen were attacking the Oberoi hotel in Mumbai, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister R.R. Patil told The Hindu newspaper.