• So, deliberately the explosions were taken out in Hindu areas?

That’s right. I realised that basically the design seems to be that there should be riots. So I straight went on television and I misled people, deliberately misled people, instead of 11 bomb explosions I said 12. And one of the places that I mentioned was Masjid Bandar, an area dominated by minorities. So I spread the message that it’s not only in Hindu areas, it’s in a Muslim area also. I also said that I had seen - because I’d immediately visited the Air India building - and I said I’d visited it and the type of material that had been used was used essentially by some of the southern Indian side terrorist organisations. And I tried to (point a) finger at the Sri Lankan side...

• So that was also deliberately fudged?

That was also deliberately fudged, I wanted to divert the attention from the Muslim angle to other areas. Because the design was to create further problem in Mumbai. Ultimately investigations established ki that was the design...

• ...Because, I believe, although the government did not talk about it for good reason but that, before the bomb blasts, automatic weapons had been distributed to a few minority people living in these localities with the expectation that the Hindu community will attack them and they, in self-defence, will then use automatic weapons and cause a lot of casualties which will actually have the city burning. Isn’t it?

... contd.