A fresh political melee over the 26/11 terror strike was reignited this week with ex-Mumbai police commissioner Rakesh Maria's reported claims that the Lashkar-e-Taiba planned to project the 26/11 terror strike as a case of 'Hindu terror'. With Maria's claims coming out in the open his memoir Let Me Say It Now, the BJP has claimed it has raised questions whether the "saffron terror plot was the combined project of the Congress and Pakistan's ISI". Many party leaders are now calling for fresh investigation into the incident. In one of the most horrific terrorist attacks in the country's history, 166 people were killed and over 300 injured as 10 heavily-armed terrorists from Pakistan created mayhem in Mumbai on November 26, 2008. Ajmal Kasab, the lone terrorist captured alive, was hanged to death on November 21, 2012.
Union minister Piyush Goyal called the attack a plot hatched through the Congress-led UPA. "First thing is, why did Maria ji say all of this now? He should have said this when he was the police commissioner. In fact, in service rules, if senior police officers have some information, they should take action on it," he said.
"In my view, a deep plot was hatched through Congress-led UPA. We had seen another template of deceit at that time, when they tried to raise a false bogey of Hindu terror, on Chidambaram saying so," he said.
Taking on the Congress over the claims in the book, BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said that for the first time in the history of Islamic terrorism the perpetrators have attempted to mislead people about their identity. "This raises serious questions, if the saffron terror plot was the combined project of the Congress and Pakistan's spy agency ISI. Around the same time, the UPA coined the saffron terror tag and Rahul Gandhi told US diplomats that India's homegrown groups are a greater threat to the country then Islamic terror groups," he said.
Rao alleged that Rahul Gandhi's comments seemed to have joint sponsorship of terror groups across the Line of Control and added that Kasab's fake ID proof and fake claims of the Congress not just have a coincidental resonance but also seem to be part of a larger conspiracy. He demanded answers from the Congress, saying the party should come clean on this and should clarify whether ISI was also extended part of the Congress-led UPA.
BJP MLA Atul Bhatkhalkar demanded that fresh investigation into the case. In a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Bhatkhalkar, who represents Kandivli constituency, said then Congress-NCP government had set up a probe committee headed by former bureaucrat Ram Pradhan, and that its report was not tabled in the state legislature.
"Ram Pradhan later said in an interview that [then Union Home minister] P. Chidambaram had told him not to reveal the local connection [of the terror attack]. I urge you to reinvestigate the case and take action against those who speak the Pakistan's line," Bhatkhalkar stated.
What the book claimed
Maria claimed that had Pakistani terrorist Kasab not been caught alive, the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack would have been dubbed as the handiwork of "Hindu" terrorists. Kasab's body would have been found with an I-card bearing a fictitious Hindu name, Maria wrote. In the 624-page book, Maria writes extensively about the investigation helmed by him in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.
"If all had gone well, he [Kasab] would have been dead with a red string tied around his wrist like a Hindu. We would have found an identity card on his person with a fictitious name: Samir Dinesh Chaudhari, student of Arunodaya Degree and P.G. College, Vedre Complex, Dilkhushnagar, Hyderabad, 500060, resident of 254, Teachers Colony, Nagarabhavi, Bengaluru," Maria writes.
"Ramesh Mahale, Prashant Marde and Dinesh Kadam [senior police officers involved in 26/11 attack investigation] would have been on their way to Hyderabad to find more about him. There would have been screaming headlines in newspapers claiming how Hindu terrorists had attacked Mumbai. Over-the- top TV journalists would have made a beeline for Bengaluru to interview his family and neighbours," he wrote.
"But, it had not worked that way and here he was, Ajmal Amir Kasab of Faridkot in Pakistan, and I was asking him, Ki karan aya hai? (What are you here for?)," the former IPS officer wrote.
Maria's book also mentions that Pakistan's ISI and the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) were ISI and the Lashkar were bent upon killing Kasab by "hook or by crook" after he was caught alive by ASI Tukaram Ombale. "As the Joint CP in charge of the Crime Branch, Kasab was now my most esteemed guest. Keeping this enemy alive was my number one priority. Anger and hostility towards Kasab were perceptible. The way the men and officers were reacting to him, I had to personally choose his guards for the entire period he would be with us," Maria writes in the book.
"The ISI and the Lashkar were bent upon eliminating him by hook or by crook to obliterate the only living evidence of their heinous deed. We had received a letter from the Government of India that Kasabs security was entirely the responsibility of the Mumbai police and within it, of the Crime Branch.
"Specific Intelligence inputs had been received from Central Intelligence agencies that Pakistan was intent on killing Kasab and the Dawood Ibrahim gang had been entrusted with the task. The reputation of the Mumbai police, not just my job, was at stake if anything were to happen to him," Maria wrote.
Maria writes that Kasab felt Muslims were not allowed to offer namaaz in India. "He seriously believed that Muslims were not allowed to offer namaaz in India and mosques were locked up by the authorities. He felt that the azaan he heard five times a day in the Crime Branch lock-up was just a figment of his imagination.
"When we came to know of this, I instructed Mahale to take him to the mosque near the Metro Cinema in a vehicle. When he saw the namaaz in progress with his own eyes, he was bewildered. This was not how it was supposed to be!" Maria writes in the book.
What Kasab had confessed
The Supreme Court judgment had cited aspects of Kasab's confession—his journey as a child from Faridkot in Punjab to Rawalpindi, where they first came into contact with the LeT, followed by a training camp in Muzaffarabad, and how they were "given ID cards with fake Hindu names" and "sacred threads around their wrists like Hindus".
"They were given lessons in Hadis, Namaz and Quran. In addition, they were taught to dismantle and assemble Kalashans [AK-47] and many kinds of rifles and pistols, and to fire from those weapons, to operate rocket launchers and the use of hand grenades. They were also given training in the use of satellite phones, GPS systems and map-reading. The physical exercise comprised staying without food for 60 hours while climbing mountains with heavy loads on the back,"the judgment noted.
They were further given training in marine technology, sailing, and casting fishing nets (so that they could identify themselves as fishermen if caught). They were told to specifically target the Americans, the British and the Israelis in the group, because those people "had greatly oppressed the Muslims". According to the confession, "While firing at the hotels, they should take care that no Muslim was killed in their attack. Then, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi [LeT leader] asked the two who were assigned the attack on the Taj Hotel and the Oberoi Hotel to set the two hotels on fire and to cause damage to them on a large scale. Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi said that before launching the attack they must fix the RDX bombs around their targets. The bomb blasts would cause traffic jams and slow down the movement of the police coming to the rescue, and would thus make it easier for them to kill the policemen, besides many other people."
"Ten “mujahedeens”, would be given ID cards with fake Hindu names and that they would go to Hindustan with those fake ID cards. On the way, they would also tie sacred threads around their wrists like Hindus do. When Ismail asked about the need for ID cards and threads, Ustad Abu Kafa [wanted accused no 5] replied that with those ID cards nobody could stop them and they would be easily successful in their mission. And the threads on their wrists would deceive the police."
Political reactions
Maharashtra state Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant criticised the BJP for demanding re-investigation into the case. "The BJP was in power in Maharashtra in the last five years. What did it do then? The BJP is insulting martyrs as well as the investigating agencies. They should apologise. The investigation in the Mumbai terror attack case is complete and Kasab was hanged (in November, 2012). Why the BJP wants reinvestigation?" he asked. Sawant alleged that the BJP was trying to target Chidambaram.
Special prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, who prosecuted the 26/11 case, claimed that nowhere had Maria said in the book that terrorist group LeT planned to portray 26/11 as Hindu terror. NDTV reported: "A lot has been said on this and I have spoken to Rakesh Maria also. He has not said anywhere that these identity cards were a ploy to portray it as Hindu terror. He has said this to me today. He said "There would have been headlines saying that in newspapers" is what he was trying to say. This means that media could have reported it as this is what he said. Rakesh Maria has not said anywhere directly that the ISI was trying to portray this as Hindu terror."
In one of the most horrific terrorist attacks in the country's history, 166 people were killed and over 300 injured as 10 heavily-armed terrorists from Pakistan created mayhem in Mumbai on November 26, 2008.
Kasab, the lone terrorist captured alive, was hanged to death on November 21, 2012.