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Karkare’s call
Digvijay provides ‘proof’
Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 4
Congress leader Digvijay Singh today presented “proof” of the call he received from slain ATS chief Hemant Karkare on the fateful day of November 26, 2008. Furnishing call records of the mobile number he was using at that time, Singh sought an apology from Maharashtra Home Minister RR Patil and all those, including BJP leaders, who had dubbed him a “liar” and accused him of “weakening India’s position regarding the terror attacks”

The Congress leader had created a flutter last month when he had claimed that Karkare had called him just hours before his death and spoke of threats from right-wing groups. While his party distanced itself from these controversial remarks, the Maharashtra Home Minister told the Assembly that there was no record of the purported telephonic conversation between Singh and Karkare, raising doubts over Singh’s claims. As per the BSNL call details released by Singh, mobile number 9425015461 belonging to the MPCC received a 380-second call from 022-23087336, the land line number of Mumbai ATS, around 5.45 pm on November 26, 2008.

However, there is no record of what actually transpired during the call as, according to Singh, he did not believe in “tapping phone calls”. He added that call records were sufficient to prove he had a conversation with Karkare. “People called me a liar... I was dubbed a traitor and a Pakistani agent. It pained me that the Mumbai Police made selective leaks, saying that there were no records of the talks between me and Karkare”.

Singh also made it clear that Mumbai terror attacks and threats to Karkare were two separate issues and should not be mixed. “26/11 was an act of terror committed by Pakistan, I have no doubt. But I did receive a call from Hemant Karkare saying he was being threatened by some right-wing activists”.

Singh also used the opportunity to attack the BJP and the RSS. Claiming that bomb blasts in the country had stopped after arrests of “RSS-affiliated people” in the Malegaon blast case, Singh demanded that all terror-related cases should be transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for a “free and fair investigation”.

He alleged that those arrested in the murder of RSS activist Sunil Joshi were only “foot soldiers of the RSS”, carrying out the killing on orders from “above”. Quoting from the chargesheet in the Malegaon blast case, he alleged that all accused were present during a function at Swami Aseemanand's Shabari Dham, where then RSS chief K S Sudarshan, present Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat and Chief Minister Narendra Modi were also present. Singh wanted Home Minister P Chidambaram to inquire into the bank accounts of Shabari Dham and probe who its principal donors were. Interestingly, the venue of the press conference --- the Constitution Club --- raised speculations whether Singh enjoyed the support of his party as far as this particular issue was concerned. The Congress had earlier distanced itself from Digvijay's statement, saying the matter was “a conversation between two individuals”. The same justification was given by Singh when he was questioned about his choice of venue.