Click to play videoNew Delhi: Union Minority Affairs Minister A R Antulay has said he had never doubted that terrorists killed Hemant Karkare or “questioned the martyrdom” of the Maharashtra police officer.
“I am not questioning that a terrorist was involved in the killing of Hemant Karkare. I am not questioning the martyrdom of Karkare,” said Antulay in a letter to the Prime Minister on Thursday.
A day before he created a storm in Parliament with his statement in which he doubted whether terrorists had killed Karkare, chief of Maharashtra’s Anti-Terrorist Squad, on November 26.
"Superficially speaking they (terrorists) had no reason to kill Karkare. Whether he (Karkare) was a victim of terrorism or terrorism plus something I do not know," Antulay said outside Parliament on Wednesday.
"Karkare found that there are non-Muslims involved in acts terrorism in some cases. Any person going to the roots of terrorism has always been the target," he said, hinting at the police officer’s probe into the Malegaon blast.
"There is more than what meets the eye,” he said.
After the BJP and Shiv Sena criticised him, Antulay changed his stand and told Parliament he had not talked about who killed the police officers but about who "sent them in the wrong direction".
Opposition targets PM
The BJP on Thursday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to clarify that whether Antulay's statement was the “collective” view of the Government.
"The Prime Minister should clarify if the allegations are an individual misdemeanour or a collective decision," party spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy told PTI.
In the Rajya Sabha, the BJP accused Antulay of making "irresponsible" statements. Senior BJP member S S Ahluwalia said that the Minister's statement to the media was a cause of concern.
"How can the House sit idle," he asked demanding that the matter should be taken up immediately. Ahluwalia alleged Antulay had made an "irresponsible" statement.
Sources have told CNN-IBN that Congress president Sonia Gandhi would speak to Antulay and ask him for an explanation.
No need for probe: Maharashtra
InMaharashtra, state Home Minister Jayant Patil said there was enough evidence to show that terrorists killed Karkare. "We have eye-witnesses statement and other evidences to indicate that Karkare was killed by terrorists," Patil said.
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