Mumbai terror: Hema’s life revolved around her children

By : Adrian David and Evangeline Majawat , NST, Dec 01 2008

Hemalatha Kassippillai (left) and Jaya Pushani Ponnudurai.

KUALA LUMPUR: Mumbai terror victim Hemalatha Kassippillai was a strong-willed woman who successfully battled congenital heart disease for more than a decade, undergoing two open-heart surgeries.

She was described as a fighter and go-getter, and that is why her family is trying hard to come to terms with her death in the Mumbai massacre.

Hemalatha’s charred body was found in room 637 of the Taj Mahal Palace hotel and Towers on Saturday, more than 60 hours after terrorists had caused mayhem in India’s financial district.

Post-mortem revealed that Hemalatha, 51, died of smoke inhalation.

Her sister-in-law, Jaya Pushani Ponnudurai, 55, said Hemalatha was a focused and determined person who led an industrious life.

Her life revolved around her two children whom she last saw three months ago before they left to further their studies in medicine in Volgograd, Russia.

“She never let her illness slow her down. She had great strength and foresight and saw to her children’s every need,” said Jaya Pushani at the family house in Bangsar Baru yesterday.

Her children, Nishalini, 19, and Dhinesh, 18, have not been told of their mother’s death.

“We only have the children’s interests at heart, butwe don’t knowhowthey will cope when they eventually find out,” Jay a Pushani said.

Hemalatha was described as hardworking and had even finished a full day’s work before rushing to catch her flight to Mumbai on Nov 25.

She had, two days earlier, attended a large family reunion to celebrate her brother’s birthday.

“There was no indication that it would be the last time we got to see her. She told us she would be back on Dec 5.

She had always returned home safely from the many overseas assignments.” Hemalatha’s body was identified by her husband K.

Sivakumaran, a general manager of a security company in Kuala Lumpur, and her brother, K. Ratnarajah.

The family was then informed through a text message from Sivakumaran that simply read “bad news”.

Hemalatha’s body is expected to arrive here at about 7.30am today.

A customer relations manager with German reinsurance firm Hannover Rückversicherung AG she was in Mumbai for a business trip.

Hemalatha’s death added to the toll of at least 26 non-Indians who were killed in the attacks, which left 172 people dead and 293 injured.

Malaysian Indian Congress president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu extended his condolences to Hemalatha’s family.

“We feel sad and enraged over the death of Hema and almost 200 other people in this barbaric and unthinkable act of terror.”

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Makkal Osai

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We wanted to hit CST at peak hour, says arrested terrorist 2 Dec 2008, S Ahmed Ali,

The Times Of India

MUMBAI: Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab (21), the terrorist arrested by Mumbai Police, has told his interrogators that their plan was to get off the A person exposed the huge chink in security at CST railway station in Mumbai. He travelled by train to CST with his licensed .32 revolver. (TOI Photo) dinghy near the fishing village at Badhwar Park, Cuffe Parade, at dusk and strike all targets except Nariman House between 7 pm and 8 pm. However, the landing was delayed and they reached at 8.45 pm. ‘‘They knew that the crowds at CST would be thickest at 7.30 pm and their bullets would cause the greatest harm,’’ said an officer on condition of anonymity. Kasab told interrogators that Cama hospital and Metro cinema were not in their plan which was to take hostages at CST and return to base by hijacking a boat off the Gateway of India. The duo opened fire at platform no 13 of CST station, which caters to outstation trains, around 9.45 pm. Then, they walked towards the concourse of the local train station. By then, the commuters had dispersed. Afraid that they would be spotted and shot, they exited the station from the foot overbridge on the Northern end, walked past the Times of India building and went towards Cama Hospital. According to Kasab, this was not in the plan. At Cama hospital, they encountered a police team led by additional commissioner Sadanand Date. When cornered, they lobbed grenades, injuring Date and two constables, and fled towards Rang Bhavan, where they killed five more policemen , including ATS chief Hemant Karkare. Their landing was delayed because it took them some time to locate a trawler to hijack off the coast of Porbandar. ‘Only 10 terrorists’ After the attack at CST railway station, the two terrorists had planned to escape by mixing with the crowd, police sources said. The police are also investigating whether the terrorists had chalked out a plan to return to Pakistan by the sea route. ‘‘After the attack, they wanted to be away from the sight of the police. This is probably the reason that the duo got into the bylane leading to the rear of Cama and Albless Hospital. By then the police had cordoned off the areas,’’ a senior police officer said. The duo however had no plans of carrying out another attack. The intelligence bureau and Mumbai police maintained that only 10 terrorists landed in Mumbai. ‘‘All the terrorists have been accounted for,’’ an officer said. The Coast Guard too confirmed this fact to TOI. A senior Coast Guard official said they found only 10 life jackets in the trawler Kuber. They also found some cosmetics and blankets in the trawler.