Minutes before he fell to the terrorists' bullets on November 26, Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare had wept before the then Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil, narrating the agony of being targeted over handling of the Malegaon blast probe.
This was revealed by Patil, who was also in-charge of the police department, to newspersons gathered in Nagpur for the winter session of Maharashtra legislature on Monday.
"On November 26, Karkare came with the entire ATS team to meet me at around 2030 hrs. He was with me till 2130 hrs. With tears rolling down his eyes, Karkare told me about the allegations being levelled against him (in Malegaon blasts case)," Patil said. "Soon after Karkare left, came the news of his being killed. Maybe that was destiny," Patil said.
Among prominent critics of Karkare were the Shiv Sena which riled the senior police official through its mouthpiece Saamana, alleging that ATS was working under political pressure while probing the blast in which some radical Hindu outfits had come under scanner.
