Terrorist Ajmal Kasab would have died as Samir Chaudhary, a Bengaluru resident if the terror organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) would have succeeded in its plan, claimed former Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria in his autobiography.
The book named ‘Let Me Say it Now’ revealed that the 26/11 terror accused was sent to India with an identity card having Chaudhary’s name and an address of Bengaluru.
Maria wrote in his book that the LeT had planned to project the 26/11 attacks as ‘Hindu Terror’. “If everything went according to plan, Kasab would have died as Chaudhari and the media would have blamed ‘Hindu terrorists’ for the attack,” he wrote.
He mentioned that the terrorist organisation had reportedly planted fake ID cards with Indian addresses on the terrorists.
“If all had gone well, he 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 Chaudhari, student of Arunodaya degree and PG college…Bengaluru…There would have been screaming headlines on 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. But alas, it had not worked that way and here he was, Ajmal Amir Kasab of Faridkot in Pakistan,” Maria writes in his book.
Maria also mentioned about the popular photograph of Ajmal Kasab at Mumbai Railway Station in which he was seen wearing a red coloured thread on his wrist.
“It was the handiwork of central agencies. The Mumbai Police tried hard to not disclose any details to media fearing for the security,” he said.
The revelation by former cop has sparked a political row as the Union Minister Piyush Goyal accused the Congress of plotting a conspiracy to project Hindu terror.
“Why is Maria speaking now? As police chief, he should have spoken then and taken action. We condemn the Congress and P Chidambaram for trying to spin a web of lies. Terrorists have no religion,” Minister said questioning the then Congress government.
“The country has given them a befitting answer with the 2014 and 2019 polls mandate. I think there is no reason for terror, a terrorist is a terrorist and our government strongly condemns Congress’ action of trying to propagate false cases of Hindu terror,” he said.
The deadly terrorist attack that happened in the financial capital on India on November 26, 2008, killed over 72 people.