Sadhvi Pragya Gets Second EC Notice in a Day, This Time for Remarks on Babri Masjid

New Delhi: BJP’s Bhopal candidate and 2008 Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur was issued another notice by the Election Commission on Saturday, just hours after she was censured for her remarks on 26/11 hero Hemant Karkare.

Thakur was served the notice by the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO-MP) for her remarks on the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition. In an interview to a TV channel, she had claimed that she was among those who had razed the disputed structure, which “was a blot on the country".

Thakur had earlier faced flak for claiming that former chief of Mumbai’s Anti-Terrorist Squad Hemant Karkare, who had died in action during the 26/11 terror attacks, lost his life because she had “cursed him".

Addressing party workers in Bhopal, Thakur broke down while narrating the alleged custodial torture inflicted on her after she was arrested in connection with 2008 blast case, in which six persons had died and over 100 were injured.

She came down heavily on the late ATS chief, who was awarded the Ashok Chakra for his bravery in facing the Mumbai terror attack, and alleged that she was tortured and abused by him in ways that were “unbearable".

Thakur claimed he used to endlessly haunt her with his daunting questions, to which she had no answers as she was “innocent all along". She said she cursed Karkare for the alleged threats, torture and miserable treatment in custody. “Maine kaha that era sarvanash hoga (I cursed him that he would be finished)," she said.

Referring to sutak, an auspicious period of one month and a half according to Hindu tradition which starts after death or birth of anyone in family, she said that the holy period started on the day she landed in jail and ended the day Karkare was slain by terrorists. “Inauspicious period started for Hemant Karkare when I was arrested. Exactly 45 days later he was killed and that was the end of the inauspicious period," she said.

A massive debate has been triggered in the country over her alleged involvement in Malegaon blasts and the BJP naming her from Bhopal despite her tainted past.