The Maharashtra home minister on Thursday said that the state police had no record of any telephonic conversation between Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh and slain Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare on November 26, 2008.
The suo moto statement made by R.R. Patil could cause a major embarrassment to the Congress general secretary.
Speaking in the state legislative Assembly on the last day of the Winter Session, Mr Patil said, “Karkare was a victim of the terror attacks in Mumbai and died of bullets fired from the guns of terrorists.”
Last Saturday, Mr Singh had claimed that Karkare had called him hours before the 26/11 terror attacks. According to Mr Singh, the slain ATS chief had feared for his safety from Hindu extremists.
Referring to Mr Singh’s statement, the Maharashtra home minister said, “It was Mr Singh’s personal opinion. The state police machinery does not have any record of his conversation with Karkare on that fateful day.”
However, Mr Patil endorsed Mr Singh’s view that Karkare had been upset over the allegations made against him following the arrests of the accused in the Malegaon bomb blast case. “Karkare had been perturbed over the allegations of the framing of charges against Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and others in the Malegaon blast case. He had expressed his mind before him and the director-general of police,” he said.