Pragya Thakur replies to EC notice, says she did not insult any 'martyr', blames media

New Delhi, Apr 22: BJP candidate from Bhopal Sadhvi Pragya Thakur on Sunday denied all the charges and said she 'did not defame any martyr' in her written reply to the show cause notice served by the Election Commission (EC) on remarks made over the death of former Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare.

The DEO in the notice served on her Saturday said she had violated model code of conduct by making the remarks on Karkare who was killed in the 9/11 terror attacks in Mumbai.

"I didn't say any defamatory word about the martyrdom of any martyr in my speech. Any inference should not be drawn from a single line of my speech....I just made a mention of torture I was subjected to at the instance of the then Congress government and this is my right to narrate the incident before public, that happened with me. Media presented my statement in a negative manner. I myself withdrew the statement in view of public sentiments," Pragya Thakur said in her reply.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Bhopal Lok Sabha constituency was issued a notice by the poll body following her statements made at a public meet in Bhopal last week, wherein she illustrated an incident involving IPS officer Karkare.

She was quoted as saying, "Maine kaha tera (Mumbai ATS chief late Hemant Karkare) sarvanash hoga. Theek sava mahine mein sutak lagta hai. Jis din main gayi thi us din iske sutak lag gaya tha.Aur theek sava mahine mein jis din atankwadiyon ne isko maara, us din uska anth hua." (Hemant Karkare falsely implicated me in Malegaon blasts and treated me very badly. I told him your entire clan will be erased. He died because of his karma," Sadhvi said.)

But soon after she issued another statement, supposedly an apology which read "I felt that the enemies of the country were being benefited from it, therefore I take back my statement and apologise for it, it was my personal pain... "He (Hemant Karkare) died from the bullets of terrorists from the enemy country, he is certainly a martyr."