Shashi Tharoor supports Vijay Wadettiwar's call for probe into Hemant Karkare's killing

Shashi Tharoor. File Photo

In response to Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar's assertion regarding the death of former Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare during the 26/11 attacks, his party colleague Shashi Tharoor voiced support on Monday, urging for a thorough investigation into the matter.

In addition to stressing the gravity of the situation, Tharoor underlined how critical it is to respond to the Leader of the Opposition's accusations. He emphasised that in order to give the country clarity, these allegations - which were earlier brought up in a book written by the former Inspector General of Police, SM Mushrif - should be carefully considered and looked into, reported ANI.

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"The matter is extremely serious. Our concern is that when the LoP points to something that is an allegation that has been in the public domain for some time and which featured in a book by the former IG of police, SM Mushrif, who said that the bullets found in Karkare's body could not have been fired by Ajmal Kasab and that it could have been fired by a police revolver. It seems to me that this allegation should have been seriously investigated. And it is not too late. Because on such an important matter, the nation has every right to know what happened," Tharoor told ANI.

Citing past comments made on the handling of Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab, the statement further attacked Ujjwal Nikam, the former prosecutor and current BJP candidate, for his claimed political prejudice.

"We already had known that he (Ujjwal Nikam) had propagated this unjustified myth that the Pakistani terrorist was served Biryani in prison and that is something that shows him in a very poor light. If, indeed he has already revealed his political bias in that moment, then there is every reason to worry whether his political bias had influenced any other of his stands. We are not saying that the allegation is true. We are saying it should be investigated," Tharoor added.

Wadettiwar distanced himself from the accusations after acknowledging that his comments were based on material from Mushrif's book in response to the outcry over his remarks.

Chief of the Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad Hemant Karkare was slain during the 2008 Mumbai attacks; he was posthumously given the Ashoka Chakra.