Hearing on petition for fresh probe into Karkare's death adjourned

Mumbai, April 24: The Bombay High Court on Friday posted beyond summer vacation hearing of a petition seeking a fresh probe into the death of Maharashtra's former ATS Chief Hemant Karkare during the 26/11 terror attack after the Union government said it would first argue the matter before filing a reply.

The petition, filed by Radhakant Yadav, former MLA from Bihar, is based on a book written by ex-IPS officer S M Mushriff.

It has been claimed in the book that a conspiracy hatched by Hindu extremists had led to the death of Karkare during the attack. [26/11 Mumbai Terror Attacks; Lakhvi ordered to be released in Pakistan]

The petitioner has sought setting up of a special investigation team to probe this angle.

The petition alleged that Abhinav Bharat, a right wing group whose name surfaced during the probe into the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast, wanted to "get rid of Karkare" as the IPS officer had solved the case and was about to arrest some more people.

It claimed the Intelligence Bureau was aware of the impending November 26, 2008 attacks and Abhinav Bharat, with the connivance of IB, launched a "parallel operation" at Cama Hospital to kill Karkare. [Intelligence agencies warn Mumbai Police of another 26/11 like attack]

"Karkare was deliberately sent to the spot" where he and others were ambushed, the petition claimed.

Karkare was killed along with Additional Commissioner of Police Ashok Kamte and encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar in the ambush by Pakistani terrorists who targeted several of Mumbai's landmarks, including Cama Hospital, hotels Taj and Oberoi, and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus during the bloody siege that left 166 dead, including foreigners.

Yadav alleged that Mumbai Crime Branch, which probed the attacks, tried to "cover up" the identities of victims of the bomb blast in a taxi at suburban Vile Parle the same night because some Abhinav Bharat members were among the dead.

The petition argues that Pakistani terrorists Ajmal Kasab and Abu Ismail had not killed Karkare and others in his team and their names did not figure in the intercepts of telephonic conversation between other Pakistani terrorists (at Taj and Oberoi hotels) and their handlers in Karachi.

PTI