BJP's Ujjwal Nikam calls Congress' Wadettiwar's remarks on 26/11 baseless

MUMBAI: Ujjwal Nikam, 26/11 prosecutor and BJP candidate from Mumbai North Central Lok Sabha constituency hit out at Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar on Monday for his remarks in connection with the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.

Wadettiwar, the Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly, on Sunday, stirred a controversy by claiming that former Mumbai ATS chief Hemant Karkare was "not killed by terrorists during the 26/11 attack but by a police official close to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh."

Nikam dismissed the claims by the Congress leader calling them "baseless" and alleged that the latter just wants to do "Goebbels' propaganda" making references to Joseph Goebbels who was Hitler's aide and Nazi Party chief propagandist.

"What allegations are you making? What will Pakistan say? Pakistan has never denied this. because we produced judicial proof. But our man is doing politics. You just want to do propaganda - that too Goebbels' propaganda. This doesn't defame Nikam. It defames you," Nikam said while speaking.

The 26/11 prosecutor also criticised Wadettiwar for making such comments after his candidature was announced. He also accused the Congress leader of "insulting" Hemant Karkare.

"I am not bothered by Vijay Wadettiwar's allegations against me but the fact that Kasab and his colleague Abu Ismail killed Hemant Karkare was never disputed even by Pakistan but the leader of the opposition is questioning the whole case, it is not just an insult to the 166 people died but all our martyrs. I am sad that an Opposition leader who doesn't know the entire thing believes in a book and makes baseless statements. It means that you are insulting Hemant Karkare," Nikam said.

"What is the judicial finding? Kasab confessed that when he and his friend were reaching outside Cama Hospital, they saw a police jeep and those two opened fire - that killed three police officers. They put their bodies at the back of the vehicle and left with the jeep. We examined it and found that it was not police personnel but a driver who was reversing his car. He was an eyewitness. We also have a statement from the man who was with (Hemant) Karkare and (Vijay) Salaskar in the vehicle. It was your rule at that time. You are making this statement after my candidature," he added.

After the comments invited wide outrage, Vijay Wadettiwar issued a clarification, saying that those were not his words but had been mentioned in the book authored by SM Mushrif, a former Inspector General of Police, in Maharashtra.

"Those are not my words, I just said what was written in the book by SM Mushrif. Every information was there about the bullet by which Hemant Karkare was shot, it was not the bullet of terrorists," he said.

Shiv Sena also criticised Wadettiwar's remarks saying that the Congress leader was making disrespectful remarks about the valiant police who sacrificed their lives during the 26/11 terrorist attack in Mumbai. Hemant Karkare was the chief of the Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad. He was killed in action during the 2008 Mumbai attacks. In 2009, he was posthumously given the Ashoka Chakra.