The mortal remains of Kavita Karkare, wife of slain ATS chief Hemant Karkare, were on Tuesday cremated at Worli in south Mumbai, a day after she died at a city hospital following brain haemorrhage.
'They came to our bedrooms, woke people who were sleeping, and shot them. For what? For what?'
Whichever combination finally emerges, Malegaon could set a record for being a town run neither by Maharashtra's ruling Mahayuti, nor by the Opposition MVA, but by a combination of two or three Muslim parties.
An organisation that helped the families of victims in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, has expressed displeasure over the acquittal of seven accused and sought to know if they were not involved in the incident, then who were responsible for it.
Former IPS officer Meeran Borwankar claims political interference hindered justice in the Malegaon and 7/11 blasts, and the Narendra Dabholkar murder case. She cited instances of pressure on investigators and prosecutors.
The Mumbai police was aware of its mistake much before it came to light. They knew that it was a highly sensitive issue so they made a tremendous effort to locate the jacket.
Unfortunately for the prosecution, the chassis number that the investigation was relying on to implicate Pragya failed as the court said in its judgment that the chassis number of the two-wheeler had been wiped out and therefore it could not be connected to Pragya.
"Hemant Karkare falsely implicated me. He died of his karma. I told him, he will be destroyed. I told him his entire dynasty will be erased," Pragya said.
Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh on Saturday made a sensational claim that two hours before the terrorists struck in Mumbai on November 26, 2008, Anti-Terror Squad chief Hemant Karkare had called him and informed him that his life was under threat from those who opposed to his probe into the Malegaon blast.
Union Minority Affairs Minister A R Antulay on Wednesday suggested that Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare could have met his end due to his role in the Malegaon blasts investigation. Karkare and two other senior officers of the Mumbai police died on November 26 when Pakistani terrorists attacked Mumbai. Antulay said Karkare was investigating some cases in which there are non-Muslims also.
Kavita Karkare, widow of former Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad chief Hemant Karkare who died fighting terrorists during the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, has been admitted to a hospital after she suffered brain haemorrhage and slipped into coma, police sources said.
Former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur, acquitted in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, alleges torture by investigating officers and pressure to implicate Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other prominent figures.
A day after he claimed of having proof of his phone talk with Hemant Karkare just before the 26/11 attacks, Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Tuesday said he has not been able to get the phone records but stuck to his remarks about threat to the police officer from right-wing Hindu groups.
The joint statement was issued by retired DGPs Julio Ribeiro, Prakash Singh, P K Hormis Tharakan, Kamal Kumar, Jacob Punnoose, Sanjeev Dayal, Jayanto Choudhury and N Ramachandran.
The Maharashtra government, reeling under criticism over handling of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, has received another jolt with the widow of former Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare saying the state police force is ill-equipped to fight terrorists.
The family of slain Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare has declined Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's offer of monetary help, sources said on Saturday.
The Mumbai police on Monday night submitted a report to the Maharashtra government on the death of Anti-Terrorist Squad chief Hemant Karkare.In its report, the police states that neither of the four bullets found on Karkare's body were police bullets. The report further suggests that Karkare's death had nothing to do with the Malegaon blast probe, which he was heading prior to his death.
Kavita Karkare and Smita Salaskar, the widows of slain Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare and encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar, on Monday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and apprised her of problems they face. Both Karkare and Salaskar died while fighting terrorists during the Mumbai terror attack.
For the first time a serving army officer was accused of terrorism.
After questions were raised over his claim, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh could be having the last laugh on the issue of his telephonic conversation between him and slain Mumbai ATS chief Hemant Karkare.
The mystery behind the missing bullet-proof jacket of slain Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare took a new turn on Wednesday with a sweeper of a government hospital in Mumbai claiming that he had disposed it off long ago. The statement evoked a sharp reaction from Kavita Karkare, wife of the slain officer, who said, "This theory had cropped up now because the government is under pressure. I have lost all hope of getting fair justice in this case."
'I would not say I am 100 per cent sure. But I would also not rule out the possibility. This is an alternative theory which must be probed into,' says former Maharashtra Inspector General of Police S M Mushrif.
'How can we know why so many officers went there unprepared and got killed? Why was there was an absence of coordination and cooperation from the Mumbai police control room?' asks Kavita Karkare, slain Anti-Terror Squad chief Hemant Karkare's widow.
Describing evidence against him in the 26/11 attacks as "weak", Pakistani gunman Ajmal Kasab asserted before Bombay High Court that police had not been able to prove beyond reasonable doubt he had killed police officers Hemant Karkare and Vijay Salaskar.
A constable, who was in the hijacked Mumbai police vehicle, survived the Wednesday night mayhem to recount the horror of how Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare and two other top officers of Mumbai police were gunned down inside the Toyota Qualis
Outside the Karkare home in Dadar (in central Mumbai) the family preferred to grieve in private. There were officers in uniform, zealously guarding the gates, allowing only friends and family to enter. The media was relegated to the opposite side of the road.
The bulletproof jacket worn by slain Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare during 26/11 terror attacks has gone missing, wife of the slain officer has alleged, raising serious questions on the manner in which evidentially materials were preserved.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi is learnt to be unhappy that All India Congress Committee General Secretary Digvijay Singh has raised a fresh controversy over the killing of Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare, even as the party is already embroiled in a number of issues.
In an embarrassment to Digvijay Singh, Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil on Thursday said there was existence of any record of the purported telephonic conversation between the Congress general secretary and slain Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare.
Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil has directed the police to probe the case of the 'missing' bulletproof vest of Anti-Terror Squad chief Hemant Karkare, who died fighting terrorists during the 26/11 attacks.
Her concern was the continuation of security breaches and terrorism and the apparent mood to move forward in normalising relations with Pakistan, without any guarantee that terrorism will not be its State policy anymore, says T P Sreenivasan.
The Jamaat-e-Islami Hind has criticised Union Home Minister P Chidambaram for denying a probe in the death of three police officers, including Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare, in the Mumbai terror attack.M M Khan, president of Jammat units of Andhra Pradesh and Orissa, said there was nothing wrong in Antulay asking for a probe into the police officers' 'suspicious' deaths.
Kavita Karkare, the wife of former Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare, on Wednesday has questioned the state government as to why her husband and two other senior police officials, who were killed on November 26 last year, did not get reinforcements on time.
Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh, who created a flutter by stating that slain Maharashtra Anti Terrorist Squad chief Hemant Karkare was under threat from right-wing groups, on Monday insisted that he had spoken to the police officer a few hours before the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai in 2008.
Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh seems determined to stir the communal cauldron with unabated controversial statements. On Monday at the book release function of senior Urdu journalist and writer Aziz Burney's 26/11 an RSS conspiracy in Mumbai, Singh said that slain Anti Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare was a like a 'God to Indian Muslims'.
Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab should not be allowed to approach the Supreme Court and should be hanged publicly, says Kavita Karkare, wife of slain Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare. Reacting to the special court awarding the death sentence to Kasab, Kavita said, "I don't think this is the end of the chapter of 26/11. This is just the beginning. Now we should hang Kasab publicly and we should not give him a chance to go to the Supreme Court".
S M Mushrif says, in this brief interaction with rediff.com, that he would not allow the issue of Karkare's death to die down unless and until the matter is probed.
President Pratibha Patil has cleared the names of slain former Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad chief Hemant Karkare, sub-inspector Tukaram Gopal Omble and National Security Guard commando Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, who laid down their lives during the Mumbai terror strikes, for Ashok Chakra. A senior Rashtrapati Bhavan official told rediff.com, "All that I can tell you is that she has cleared the file and it has been sent to home ministry."
On the eleventh anniversary of her father's martyrdom during the 26/11 terror attacks on Mumbai, Jui Karkare Navare remembers her father, Mumbai ATS Chief Hemant Karkare.
On the Malegaon probe issue, Kavita said her husband "wasn't under pressure from what I understood... because according to the Bhagvad Gita if you are fighting evil, even if your gurus are not doing the right thing, you must continue your fight. He was not confused, his ideas, his ideology was fixed, even the investigations were going smoothly, he had finished his work."
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