‘Modi offered moral support and left’

Karkare’s family sources said Modi had dropped in on his own at the grieving family’s home, after the officer’s kin had thrice told his officials that they had no wish to meet anyone.

Karkare’s widow and relatives were speaking to this paper while Modi is courting a controversy over reports that Kavita Karkare had declined to accept any part of the Rs 1-crore Sanman Raashi he had offered to the kin of the 14 policemen killed in the firefight with terrorists in Mumbai.

Modi’s visit to the bereaved family has larger implications. After the Mumbai ATS claimed to have uncovered a full-fledged Hindu terror network behind the Malegaon bomb blast — and arrested a Lieutenant Colonel and a Sadhvi linked to the saffron brigade, among others — Modi has been repeatedly accusing it of bias and worse.

Modi had even alleged that the army officer’s arrest by the ATS amounted to trying to demoralise the Indian Army at the cost of national interest : “Jo kaam Pakistan bees saal tak nahi kar paya, Hindustan ne bees din me kiya,” Modi, the BJP’s star campaigner, had said in Assembly election meetings at Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh recently. He had also gone on to claim that the arrests made by the Mumbai ATS were politically motivated, at the behest of the Congress.

A close family source at Karkare’s home disclosed that Modi had gone there on his own, even after family members thrice declined requests that he be facilitated to meet and offer condolences. “The state protocol officer called up first and we informed him that we did not wish to meet anyone. Two more calls from Modi’s office followed and we responded the same way. Modi then came in on his own, unannounced,” the source said.

Kavita said she wanted no controversy.

“It is part of our culture to be hospitable to visitors, and Modi is an elderly person. He came home, sat on a chair in the living room for a while and then told my son Akash : Aap ko koyi madad chahiye to bataiyega. He offered moral support and then left. At no point did he mention anything about any monetary support, at least not to me,” Kavita told Newsline.

An official attached to Modi’s office said the chief minister could not personally meet the widow of the Maharashtra ATS chief, as she was in an inner room of the house.

“So the CM garlanded Karkare’s photo kept in the room and came out,” he said.

The official added: “ The CM announced Rs 1 crore as a Sanmaan Rashi in honour of all the 14 Maharashtra police personnel who laid down their lives, and not for just one individual.”

He added: “The money will be handed over to the Mahrashtra government, and it is up to them to decide how to distribute it.”