'26/11 hero not killed by Kasab': Shashi Tharoor seeks probe into Congress leaders' claim, says 'it is not too late'

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor sought probe into claims of Congress leader in connection with 26/11 attacks.

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor sought a “serious investigation” into Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar’s claim that former Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare was “not killed by terrorists during the 26/11 attack but by a police official close to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh [RSS].”

Tharoor said on Monday, “…It seems to me that this allegation should have been seriously investigated. And it is not too late. Because on such an important matter, the nation has every right to know what really happened…”

He added that “the matter is extremely serious”. He said, “We are not saying that the allegation is definitely true. We are saying it should be investigated.”

“Our concern is that when the LoP points to something which is an allegation that has been in the public domain for some time and which featured in a book by the former IG of police, Mr Mushrif, who said that the bullets found in Hemant Karkare’s body could not have been fired by the Ajmal Kasab and they it could have been fired by a police revolver, it seems to me that this allegation should have been seriously investigated,” Tharoor told news agency ANI.

What’s claimed about 26/11 attack

Wadettiwar stirred a controversy on Sunday by claiming that former Mumbai ATS chief Hemant Karkare was “not killed by terrorists during the 26/11 attack but by a police official close” to the RSS.

Wadettiwar later issued a clarification, saying that those were not his words but had been mentioned in the book authored by SM Mushrif, a former Inspector General of Police, in Maharashtra.

“Those are not my words, I just said what was written in the book by SM Mushrif. Every information was there about the bullet by which Hemant Karkare was shot, it was not the bullet of terrorists,” he said.

Hemant Karkare was the chief of the Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS). He was killed in action during the 2008 Mumbai attacks. In 2009, he was posthumously given the Ashoka Chakra.