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.
'They came to our bedrooms, woke people who were sleeping, and shot them. For what? For what?'
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
For the first time a serving army officer was accused of terrorism.
In controversial remarks, Maharashtra Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar on Monday said terrorists have no caste or religion and questioned veracity of the claim that terrorists asked about faith of tourists before killing them in Kashmir's Pahalgam town last week.
'Why is the Congress not tendering an unconditional apology to the citizens of India?'
Maharashtra Governor Ramesh Bais and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday paid floral tributes to the martyrs who laid down their lives while fighting terrorists who attacked the metropolis on this day 15 years ago.
Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's remarks on Pakistan sparked a political row on Friday, with his party quick to dissociate itself from the comments while the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party latched on to them, accusing the Congress of being an apologist for Pakistan and the terrorism emanating from its soil.
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.
Date, a 1990 Indian Police Service officer of the Maharashtra cadre who once sold newspapers in Pune to financially support his family, was honoured with the President's Police medal for gallantry for his role in what has come to be known as the 26/11 attack.
"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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Tributes were also paid at the places targeted by terrorists including Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Cama and Albless Hospital, Hotel Taj Mahal Palace, the Oberoi Trident, Nariman House, the Jewish community centre, and the memorial of ASI Tukaram Omble who was martyred while overpowering Ajmal Kasab, the only terrorist who was captured alive.
Uttam Ghosh offer his take on the Pragya Thakur controversy.
Thakur, while interacting with BJP workers on Sunday, said she has not been elected as Member of Parliament to clean toilets and drains.
'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.
Lt Col Purohit, it is now being reported quoting statements made by officers in the court of inquiry, had actually infiltrated Hindu radical outfit Abhinav Bharat while being posted at Pachmarhi in Madhya Pradesh to snoop in on plans to carry out terror strikes in India.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's youth wing on Tuesday termed the Congress 'more dangerous' than Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, alleging that some of its prominent leaders are 'facilitating' traitors by insulting martyrs and dividing the nation on the lines of religion. "The Congress is more dangerous for the unity of the country than Pakistan-sponsored terrorism," said BJYM national president Anurag Thakur.
The RSS on Saturday served a legal notice to Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh over his controversial remarks about Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare, who was killed in the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai. Demanding an unconditional apology from him for the 'unsubstantiated remarks', the notice warns him of legal action under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for promoting enmity between communities, deliberately outraging religious feelings.
Ram Gopal Varma launches his new film called The Attacks of 26/11, based on the 2008 terror attack on Mumbai.
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.
Rich tributes were on Saturday paid to the 26/11 martyrs on the third anniversary of the Mumbai terror attacks by Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and a host of other leaders.
Bharatiya Janata Party General Secretary Vijay Goel today accused Congress leader Digvijay Singh of "helping Pakistani terrorists" by asserting that slain Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare spoke to him about threats from right-wing Hindu groups hours before the 26/11 terror attack.
Congress on Saturday doubted the veracity of a 'WikiLeaks' cable, which said that a section of the party leadership was seen playing religious politics after one of its leaders, A R Antulay, raised suspicion on the truth behind Anit-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare's killing during 26/11 attacks.
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.
The lone captured Pakistani gunman, Ajmal Kasab, today looked flustered and confused while trying to prove his innocence in front of judge M L Tahaliyani.
Mumbai Police Inspector Vijay Salaskar and Assistant Sub-Inspector Tukaram Ombale, apart from National Security Guard commandos Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan and Havildar Gajender Singh too would receive the medal posthumously for their acts of bravery during the November Mumbai attacks. Delhi Police inspector Mohan Chand Sharma, who died fighting terrorists in the Batla House operation in the capital in September last year, has also been named for the award.
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'.
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.
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.
'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.
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