Apologise, says Diggy, shows call records
Armed with the call details of his telephone conversation with slain Mumbai Anti-Terrorist Squad chief Hemant Karkare on the day the police officer was killed, AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh on Tuesday demanded apologies from Maharashtra home minister R.R. Patil and all others who tried to brand him a “liar”.
Releasing the call details, obtained from BSNL’s Bhopal office, at a press conference here, Mr Singh said, “People called me a liar... I was dubbed a traitor and a Pakistani agent. It hurt me that the Mumbai police made selective leaks saying that there were no records of the talks between me and Karkare.”
The Congress leader added that it was all the more painful for him when the Maharashtra home minister said in the state Assembly that no such call was made.
“All those who have dubbed me a liar, and have put a question mark on my honesty, sincerity and credibility, should apologise, or at least express regret now that I have produced documents,” Mr Singh demanded.
Emphasising that a letter from BSNL about the call details has proved him right beyond doubt, Mr Singh said, “The call came from his (Karkare’s) office landline on my mobile phone number 9425015461. The number from which the call came to me was the official telephone number of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad.”
A closer look at the call records, released by Mr Singh, reveal that the ATS chief rang him up at 5.44 pm and the conversation continued for more than six minutes.
Hours later, Karkare was killed in the 26/11 terrorist attacks in Mumbai.
The AICC general secretary had created a flutter in political circles when he claimed that Karkare had called him on the day of the Mumbai terror strikes to say he feared for his safety from Hindu extremists. Mr Singh, however, asserted that he had never doubted the role of Pakistani elements in the 26/11 attacks and had never said that right-wing activists were behind the terror attacks. “But it is a fact that I am on record saying that he (Karkare) was being threatened by some right-wing activists,” he had said.
Moreover, the Congress leader found the occasion appropriate to attack the BJP and the RSS, which had criticised him for his remarks. He claimed that bomb blasts in the country have stopped after the arrests of “RSS-affiliated people” in the Malegaon blast case by Karkare.
“What is the reason that blasts have virtually stopped in recent months, except the German Bakery blast in Pune and the recent one in Varanasi after the arrests in the Malegaon case,” he asked, seeking a probe by the National Investigation Agency into all terror-related cases.
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