By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent,
Mumbai: Maybe you don’t know it because most of the media highlighted only the death sentence of 26/11 accused Kasab, pronounced by the special anti-terror court of Judge M L Tahaliyani on May 6. While convicting Kasab the judge had questioned Mumbai Police on failure of ballistics experts in proving whose bullets killed Karkare, but media trashed it.
Judge Tahaliyani pronounced capital punishment for the 22-year-old Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab on four counts of murder, conspiracy to murder, waging war against the country and committing terrorist activities under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. 166 people were killed in the carnage on November 11, 2008.
While convicting Kasab Tahaliyani had questioned the Mumbai Police about the ballistics experts having failed to prove whose bullets killed ATS Chief Hemant Karkare. The court asked why ballistic experts could not clarify the most crucial dimension of these killings.
“Tahaliyani also criticised Constable Jadhav, the sole eyewitness and survivor of the killings of Karkare, Kamte and Salaskar, for changing his statement a few times. Although the testimony of the accused, in this case Ajmal Kasab, can never be taken seriously, but he called Jadhav a “liar” and claimed that his version of what happened at Cama Hospital, where all the three Mumbai Police officers were killed, was wrong. Interestingly, Kasab’s cross-examination on the happenings around Cama Hospital and its periphery was conducted in camera,” says Hard News magazine in its latest editorial on the subject.
The questioning has again revived the conspiracy theories about the motive behind the killing of Karkare. If he was not killed by Pakistani terrorists Kasab or Ismail, then whose guns killed him?
Then ATS chief Karkare had exposed the involvement of Hindutva terror in the Malegaon blasts in 2008. He was threatened with death via anonymous phone calls because he was unearthing the network of Hindutva terror groups that were involved in similar incidents of blasts and killings all over the country. Of late, Karkare’s lead is helping in exposing the ugly face of Hindutva terrorism in the country. Recently they have been found involved in Ajmer Dargah and Makkah Masjid blasts.
Not only that ballistics experts failed to prove whose bullets killed ATS Chief Hemant Karkare, what has further strengthened the conspiracy theory is the disappearance of his bullet-proof jacket and the initial reluctance of the police to give his autopsy report. It was the tireless efforts of Karkare’s wife, Kavita, and Kamte’s wife, Vinita, that the report came into public.
The post-mortem report stated that Karkare received a total of five wounds on the shoulder blade, top region between neck and right shoulder, four entry wounds in one line. The report revealed that Karkare received one bullet in the neck and the other four were in a line entering the shoulder and exiting from the armpit.
“There were reports about two bullets being found in his body during autopsy. What happened to those two bullets? Whatever happened to the bullets that passed through his body? Were they found in the vehicle, in his bullet-proof jacket, around his body, or somewhere else? Has the gun been identified, the gun(s) which killed Karkare and others? If not, why? If he was shot at close range, was the shot fired from inside the vehicle, and if so, who fired it and why?” asked the Hard News.
According to specifications laid down for bullet-proof vests, the body should be covered from the neck till the waist. But the jacket worn by Karkare had only his chest covered while the neck portion was open.