IPS officers condemn Pragya's remark on Karkare

Associations of serving as well as former IPS officers on Friday condemned BJP candidate Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur's remark that then Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare died in a terrorist attack because she had cursed him.

The Indian Police Service (Central) Association tweeted from its official handle, 'IPS Association', that Karkare had made the "supreme sacrifice".

"Ashok Chakra awardee late Sri Hemant Karkare, IPS made the supreme sacrifice fighting terrorists. Those of us in uniform condemn the insulting statement made by a candidate and demand that sacrifices of all our martyrs be respected," the association said.

Julio Ribeiro, chairman of the Retired IPS Association, termed Thakur's statement as unfortunate.

Speaking to PTI, Ribeiro said, "Karkare was one of the finest IPS officers who worked almost everywhere in Maharashtra during his stint and there was not a single complaint against him. He would never do anything wrong.

"When other officers who have worked with Karkare would come across Pragya's remark, they will think what kind of people are being put up (as candidates)," he said.

Karkare, along with Ashok Kamte and Vijay Salaskar, was among the police officers who were killed during the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.

Before that, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad had cracked the September 2008 Malegaon blast case and arrested Thakur and others. Thakur later got bail, but she is still facing trial for the blast in which six persons were killed.

Addressing BJP workers in Bhopal -- from where the party has fielded her for the Lok Sabha poll -- she alleged that Karkare "tortured" her during the probe.

"I told him he will be destroyed. A little over a month later 'sutak' (ritual observed after death of a family member) was going to start...just over a month later, he was shot dead by terrorists and the inauspicious period ended," she said.