'Kasab didn't kill Hemant Karkare; Ujjwal Nikam traitor': Congress leader sparks row

Vijay Wadettiwar said it was written in a book that Hemant Karkare was killed by a cop affiliated with the RSS during the 26/11 terrorist attack in Mumbai.

Maharashtra Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar landed in a major controversy after he said terrorist Ajmal Kasab did not kill police official Hemant Karkare but an RSS-affiliated cop did and Ujjwal Nikam was a traitor who suppressed the fact. Ujjwal Nikam was the government’s lawyer in the 26/11 case and will contest on a BJP ticket from Mumbai North Central in the Lok Sabha election.

“During 26/11, Hemant Karkare was not shot by Kasab. A police officer shot him on the instructions of RSS. Public Prosecutor Adv. Ujjwal Nikam knew this yet chose to hide this fact,” Wadettiwar said.

As his comments drew flak, Wadettiwar clarified that what he said about Hemant Karkare’s death was written in a book by retired police officer SM Mushrif named Who Killed Karkare. “There is no morality in today’s politics. People who are in politics for power will sell the country off,” the Congress leader said.

Hemant Karkare was the chief of the Mumbai ATS and was killed during the 2008 Mumbai attacks. In 2009, he was posthumously given the Ashoka Chakra.

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The BJP lashed out at Wadettiwar and accused the Congress of giving clean chit to Pakistan on 26/11. “Shocking and unbelievable…No wonder Pakistan is praying for Congress and Rahul. Congress is again putting Votebank Rajniti above Rashtraniti. After crying for Batla, Afzal, Yakub, Naxals and labelling them Shaheed now doubting patriots like Ujjwal Nikam & clean chit to Pak!” BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala said.

The BJP legal cell, Nagpur, filed a complaint against Vijay Wadettiwar for the “shameful and derogatory” statement over the death of Hemant Karkare.

Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde condemned the statement while deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said the BJP joined hands with Ujjwal Nikam and the Congress with Kasab.

Former Congress leader who joined Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena Milind Deora said he was the MP in 2008 when the terror attack took place. “It is a very shameful statement…I was the South Mumbai MP when the attack took place. I saw the pain. When the government of the day was trying to demonstrate that Pakistan was behind the attack, leaders of the same party went out and released a book which took attention away from Pakistan. It was a book called 26/11 RSS ki sazish,” Milind Deora said.

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