14 years later we still need to ask ‘Who killed Hemant Karkare’

Falah Faisal | NT

Bengaluru:

The events of 26/11 are forever etched in our memories when 10 terrorists attacked Mumbai late at night at iconic locations across the city, leading to 175 people being killed and nearly 300 being injured. Among the deceased was also Hemant Karkare, former ATS Chief, whose death might hold the key to discovering the motive behind the attack.

It has been the subject of the book ‘Who Killed Karkare?’ by S.M. Mushrif, Former IG of Maharashtra Police that puts forth some interesting theories. Mushrif along with Rohini Salian, the public prosecutor working with Karkare on the Malegaon Blast case, was interviewed by Anand Pathwardhan for his documentary ‘Reason’ that documents the rise of the right-wing and the killings of rationalists like Kalburgi, Pansare and Gauri Lankesh.

“When the blasts happened, K. P. Raghuvanshi was the ATS Chief and stated that Muslims were behind it. But when Karkare took over in June 2008, he took a professional approach and discovered that the bike on which the bomb was placed belonged to Sadhvi Pragya Thakur,” recounts Mushrif. On further investigation, it was discovered that a radical Hindutva group Abhinav Bharat was behind the attack that revealed a larger conspiracy where they were responsible for 17 blasts between 2003-08 including Samjhauta Express and Mecca Masjid, Hyderabad.

Along with Pragya the other accused were Swami Amritananda alias Dayanand Pandey, a retired Major Ramesh Upadhyay and a serving Army officer Lt. Col. Prasad Shrikant Purohit. Rohini Salian was working with Karkare to file the charge sheets when disaster struck. If you go back and look at news coverage from the day on IBN7 and Aaj Tak, it was about the investigation and chargesheet being filed until 10 pm when suddenly the news shifted the focus to the terrorist attack.

“I still remember the last time I met him, he shook my hand and left at 7:30. Later I got a call to watch the news and discovered he was killed along with Ashok Kamte and Vijay Salaskar outside the Cama Hospital,” recounts Salian in the documentary. She says that after that she received messages to go soft on the Malegaon accused, and after the BJP came to power in 2014, all 164 testimonies recorded during the case went missing before the accused were acquitted.

“I could systematically make out that things weren’t moving in the right direction and felt something was seriously wrong and if I didn’t expose this to the public I’d be cheating them,” she says. Sadhvi Pragya has since become a Member of Parliament and made statements like Karkare was killed because of her curses. And attempts have been made to malign Karkare’s reputation.

One can’t say that the purpose of the attacks was to kill Karkare but the timing of it was certainly convenient, and who benefited from it is clear. And as we mourn the loss of numerous lives, we must not forget Karkare who stood for what he believed in up until the very end despite the pressure he faced from politicians.