IM had plans to kill Karkare, reveals email

NEW DELHI: Slain Mumbai ATS chief Hemant Karkare was on the hit list of Indian Mujahideen ( IM), proxy of the Lashkar-e-Taiba , which has among its senior cadre a number of youth from UP’s Azamgarh district.

Three months before Karkare was shot by Lashkar terrorists, their Indian IM comrades had threatened him for what his team was doing.

In a warning to Karkare, the IM in an email on August 23, 2008, had said: ‘‘ Let us notify you, top officials of ATS like Hemant Karkare and allies that our line of attack has already been masterminded for you’’ .
IM threat issued after a joint operation by Guj, Maha police

Besides Karkare, the IM had also mentioned the then Gujarat police chief P C Pande and joint commissioner of police (crime) Ashish Bhatia as the trio had launched a major crackdown against its cadre in various joint operations after the July 26 2008 serial blasts in Ahmedabad.

Pouring venom against Karkare, Pande and others, the IM wrote: ‘‘ O you cowardly bast**** of ATS Gujarat, ATS Mumbai, ACB, Gujarat Police and fools like thereof! you are the most foolish enemies the Mujahideen of Islam have ever fought against! Look! we are directly challenging you that Insha Allah we will carry out our next attacks right under you close vigil... ’’ .

The threat was issued just after a joint operation by police teams of Gujarat and Maharashtra working with Intelligence Bureau made some crucial arrests. Altogether , 10 IM cadres were arrested in August 2008.

David Headly, the US-born Pakistani Lashkar terrorist, also told his interrogators from the National Investigation Agency that he was told by Sajid, a Lashkar commanders who guided the 26/11 attackers, that Kasab and his fellow terrorists had eliminated senior police officers of Mumbai. Senior sources in the home ministry who worked with Karkare are aghast by Congress leader Digvijay Singh’s statement, giving the impression that Karkare could have been killed by Hindu terrorists.

They are concerned that the unwarranted and unsubstantiated statements would make it difficult for the police personnel to proceed against the IM operatives and sympathisers who last week showed their resilience and capabilities by setting off the blast in Varanasi on December 7.

They said that repeated endorsements of the claim of family members of the terror accused from Azamgarh that police were harassing innocents had emboldened the terrorists , while demoralising police personnel. They make particular mention of visits of politicians to one Mr Bhai of Sanjarpur and Dr Javed of Azamgarh, whose sons are accused in terror attacks which claimed hundreds of innocent lives.

Two sons of Sanjarpur — Saif and (Dr) Shahnawaz — figure among those identified by police as hardcore IM members. Saif was nabbed after being cornered by Delhi Police at Batla House, while Shahnawaz, a Unani doctor, continues to dodge police to plot terror activities. Asadullah , son of Dr Javed, a noted orthopaedic surgeon of Azamgarh who is the leader of the radical Muslim outfit Ulema Council, is also suspected of terrorist activities.

Sources said that Karkare was a key figure in the operation involving police forces of several states to bust the IM modules comprising youth from Sanjarpur.