By IANS,
New Delhi : Minority Affairs Minister A.R. Antulay has sent his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, following the storm over his comments on Maharashtra police officer Hemant Karkare’s killing during the Mumbai terror attack, government sources said Friday.
The 79-year-old former Maharashtra chief minister had indicated that the death of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Karkare could be linked to the Malegaon bombings he was investigating and in which members of Hindu radical groups were the main suspects.
“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 had said.
“Karkare found that there are non-Muslims involved in acts of terrorism in some cases. Any person going to the roots of terrorism has always been the target,” he said. “There is more than what meets the eye.”
Antulay’s remarks created an uproar in parliament and outside with the opposition parties demanding his removal.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the comments had weakened India’s position on the Mumbai terror attacks carried out by Pakistani terrorists.
Karkare was among the security personnel who died moments after the terrorists went on a killing spree, eventually leaving over 170 Indians as well as foreigners dead. Karkare was gunned down along with his colleagues when the gunmen fired at their vehicle Nov 26 night.
The ATS led by him had arrested 11 people, including Sadhvi Pragnya Thakur, in connection with the September blasts in Maharashtra’s Malegaon town in which six people were killed.