In a now viral video, Vijay Wadettiwar can be seen claiming that the bullet that killed ATS Chief Hemant Karkare was not fired by Ajmal Kasab but was from the gun of a police officer linked to RSS. He then claimed that this officer was shielded from responsibility and hidden from justice for his act of treason.
These comments have created widespread controversy with numerous people on social media condemning the comments of the senior Congress leader.
People are calling him a traitor for his comments and asking for an apology. Reacting to the condemnation, Vijay Wadettiwar said, “Those are not my words, I just said what was written in the book by SM Mushrif. Every information was there about the bullet by which Hemant Karkare was shot, it was not the bullet of terrorists…” in an interaction with ANI
While some people also called for re-investigation of the matter, overall the comments have been met with anger. People are blaming him for bringing up old non issues and spreading lies to give a clean chit to the perpetrators of one of the city’s most deadly terrorist attacks.
The attack began on 26th November 2008 with 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba carrying out 12 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks lasting four days across Mumbai. A total of 175 people died, including nine of the attackers, with more than 300 injured. Among those dead was Joint Commissioner of Police Hemant Karkare, the Chief of the Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad who was hailed across the world as a hero.
The comments of senior Congress leader have also been condemned by Shiv Sena(Eknath Shinde Faction). The comments were made by the leader to attack Ujjwal Nikam, the BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Mumbai North Central constituency. He alleged that the noted lawyer and the prosecutor in the Kasab case suppressed evidence to save the accused.