Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh, who created a flutter by stating that slain Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare was under threat from right-wing groups, on Monday insisted that he has spoken to the police officer a few hours before the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai in 2008 and he has proof of this.
“I have got records for that. Absolutely, I am firm on this. I did speak to him and I have stated that already,” he told reporters in Guwahati. “I am sure those who are saying that I did not talk to Karkare would be proved wrong,” he later said.
Mr Digvijay’s remarks came following a media report which said that call records of Karkare’s cell phone showed that he had neither called nor received a call from the Congress general secretary during that period.
As he came under fire, Mr Digvijay had on Sunday stuck to his stand that Karkare had spoken about threats from right-wing groups during the telephonic conversation with him.
Mr Digvijay had subsequently clarified that he never doubted the role of Pakistani elements in the Mumbai attacks. Mr Singh also trained his guns on BJP, maintaining that the opposition party lent its support to Hindu radical groups. The BJP demanded that Congress force Singh to resign from the party for his “absurd” remarks that Karkare had told him hours before the 26/11 strike that he feared for his safety from Hindu extremists in the wake of the Malegaon blast probe. —PTI