RSS India's No.1 terror group: Former Mumbai police officer

Claiming that RSS activists have been indicted in at least 13 terror cases across India, former Maharashtra inspector general of police S.M. Mushrif on Thursday described the Hindutva outfit as India's No.1 terrorist organisation.

"RSS activists have been charge-sheeted in at least 13 cases of terror acts in which RDX has been used. If organisations like Bajrang Dal are taken into the account, then the number of such cases goes up to 17," Mushrif said at an event here.

"The RSS is India's number one terrorist organisation, there is no doubt on this," said Mushrif, referring to the 2007 Mecca Masjid bombing in Hyderabad, the 2006 and 2008 Malegaon blasts in Maharashtra and the 2007 Samjhauta Express bombings among others.

Mushrif, however, asserted that "saffron terror" had no bearing on which party was in power.

"The RSS as a terror organisation has nothing to do with political power. It is immaterial which party is in power. It is the system that is working, it's the Brahminical system. And when I say Brahminical, it doesn't mean the Brahmin, it's the mentality, the attitude to dominate and oppress," he said.

However, Mushrif was not in agreement with the view that intolerance was rising in recent times.

"Intolerance has been going on for a long time. There have been many severe bigger incidents earlier, I don't understand why it is being highlighted now," he asked.

Reiterating his claims that the Intelligence Bureau (IB) masterminded the killing of Hemant Karkare, who was probing the involvement of Hindu radicals in terror acts, during the Mumbai terror attack in 2008 Mushrif called for a people's movement to establish the truth behind the killing of the Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad chief.

"There is clinching evidence about the IB's involvement but all efforts to establish that have been defeated. Our efforts to call for an independent probe have always been defeated. Unless there is a massive public movement, this will never be established," said Mushrif, who made the sensational claims in his book "Who Killed Karkare".

Mushrif, along with national award winning music director and former Trinamool Lok Sabha member Kabir Suman, participated in an event to commemorate Karkare's martyrdom.