Did Karkare call on 26/11? Digvijaya can’t find the log

After his remarks evoked a sharp reaction from politicos,and also from Karkare’s wife Kavita,Singh had said he could show proof of his conversation with Karkare.

But he has still not been able to trace the call.

“I am not a liar,there is no need for me to lie that I had spoken to (slain Maharashtra ATS chief) Hemant Karkare,” Singh,who has recently been made party in-charge of poll-bound Assam,told reporters here.

The Congress general secretary,who yesterday claimed he had records to prove his conversation with Karkare,said today he has requested the Telecom Ministry to dig up the log of the call between him and the police officer from its centre in Pune.

Singh said he had sent a request in this regard to the general manager of BSNL at Bhopal but “has got in writing from them that they cannot provide details of this number as the records are kept only for 12 months”.

He said he had spoken to Karkare from his number registered in Bhopal.

The Congress leader had said Karkare told him over phone about the threats from right-wing groups because of his probe into the Malegaon blast.

“There is no need for me to spread a lie. I stand by what I said. It’s not a new thing and I have said it many times on the electronic media and to the print media,” he said.

Dismissing as “absolutely rubbish” suggestions that he was questioning the investigation in the 26/11 case or meant to say that Pakistani terrorists were not involved in the encounter of Karkare,he said,”BJP is a master of double speak and is creating confusion” on his remarks.

Singh said,”I do not have any doubt about the involvement of Pakistani terrorists in 26/11. I am satisfied with the investigations.”

He rejected former Assam Chief Minister Praful Kumar Mahanta’s charge that he was using Karkare as a weapon for creating communal divide in the country.

“Mahanta is my old friend. He should stop making such statements,” he said.

Continuing his tirade against the BJP,Singh said immediately after the incident,former Governor Julio Rebeiro had also said that Karkare had met him a few days before the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Karkare had told Rebeiro that “he was sad as senior BJP leaders Lal Krishna Advani,Rajnath Singh and some Hindu outfits were levelling baseless allegations against him and had raised questions on his honesty and integrity.

“I want to ask the BJP what right Advani and Rajnath Singh had to to put question marks on Karkare’s honesty and integrity. Wasn’t this act by a former Home Minister of the country an attempt to influence the investigations and demoralise Karkare?” he said.

Replying to a question,he said he was “grateful” that the BJP has reacted strongly to his statement.

Following media reports that call records of Karkare’s cell phone showed that Singh had neither called the police officer nor received any call from him during that period,Singh had yesterday said,”I have got records for that. Absolutely,I am firm on this. I did speak to him and I have stated that already.”