Raut Rejects Wadettiwar's Comments on 26/11 Martyr Hemant Karkare

Amid a row over Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwars remarks that ATS chief Hemant Karkare wasnt killed by terrorist Ajmal Kasab in the 2611 attack, Shiv Sena UBT MP Sanjay Raut on Monday said he doesnt agree with the claim as Karkare was a martyr who fought for the country.

Amid a row over Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar's remarks that ATS chief Hemant Karkare wasn't killed by terrorist Ajmal Kasab in the 26/11 attack, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Monday said he doesn't agree with the claim as Karkare was a martyr who fought for the country. The remarks snowballed into a political slugfest in Maharashtra with the BJP questioning the silence of Uddhav Thackeray, whose party is an ally of Congress, on the issue. Wadettiwar, the leader of the opposition in the Maharashtra assembly, had claimed that 26/11 prosecution lawyer and BJP candidate for Lok Sabha polls, Ujjwal Nikam, hid the information that Karkare wasn't killed by Kasab but fell to a bullet of a policeman linked to RSS.

Raut claimed the RSS was upset with Karkare as it believed that the ATS headed by him had wrongly arrested Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt. Col. Prasad Shrikant Purohit (in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case).

''Hemant Karkare died a martyr. He fought for the country. When Kasab and his gang attacked Mumbai in November 2008, Karkare fought with him. Now some people had raised a question that Karkare's martyrdom was mysterious. I don't believe in it,'' he said.

Raut said IPS officer Ashok Kamte and other police personnel, including Tukaram Ombale, also became martyrs during the Mumbai terror attack.

''It was a battle against enemies of the country,'' the Shiv Sena (UBT) MP said. Wadettiwar has also termed Nikam as an ''anti-national'', evoking a sharp reaction from the BJP, which has written to the Election Commission of India seeking action against the Congress leader.

Wadettiwar's allegations were based on the book ''Who Killed Karkare'' written by retired police officer SM Mushrif.

''Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Hasan Mushrif must respond rather than Wadettiwar, who has quoted from the book written by Hasan Mushrif's brother and IPS officer (retd) S M Mushrif,'' Raut added.

Hasan Mushrif had sided with Ajit Pawar after the Nationalist Congress Party split last year. Nikam on Sunday said Wadettiwar should desist from making such comments that can help the enemy nation. ''We have written to the Election Commission of India seeking action against Wadettiwar who is a star campaigner (of Congress) and also against the Congress party for peddling lies,'' Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar had said. A former special public prosecutor, Nikam had represented the state in high-profile cases like the Mumbai serial bomb blasts and the 2008 Mumbai terror attack. He is making his political debut from the Mumbai North Central Lok Sabha seat on a BJP ticket and is pitted against city Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad.

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