Mail Today
28 January 2009
Editorial
Whither Malegaon?
THE greatest honour that could have been bestowed on slain ATS chief Hemant Karkare would have been to carry forward the aggressive investigation of the Malegaon blasts that he was conducting. The investigation, though, seems to be allowing some people get a convenient bypass. Charges of sedition and waging war against the State, after a recorded conversation surfaced of the main accused — serving military intelligence officer Lt. Col. Shrikant Purohit exhorting his coconspirators to seek help from Israel to dislodge the Indian state — have not been pressed by the current chief K. P. Raghuvanshi.
Malegaon residents have already raised their voice against Raghuvanshi, as they had done earlier when the 2006 Malegaon blast probe was delegated to him, to be later taken over by the CBI. Clearly, the new chief does not inspire confidence in the stakeholders and the reasons for it are not far to seek. Karkare was trying to flesh out the case and probe every possible angle, thus bringing in people like Abhinav Bharat chief Himani Savarkar and others with linkages to Purohit within the case’s investigating dragnet.
The ensuing pressure from the Sangh Parivar did not derail Karkare from heading where the clues led.
Considering that this is the case which shattered the common perception of Islamic terrorists behind every terror attack in the country, there is a pressing need to carry it to its logical conclusion. For this, it must be handled by an officer with impeccable credentials.
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