Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, BJP's candidate from Bhopal, said in a statement to the Election Commission that she did not make any insulting statement about any martyr, ANI reported. She replied to the show-cause notice from Election Commission over her remarks on former Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare, denying any violation of the model code of conduct.
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Addressing BJP workers on Thursday night, Thakur had claimed that Karkare died during the attack as she had "cursed" him for torturing her when he probed the blast case as chief of the Anti-Terrorism Squad.
“I didn’t say any defamatory word about the martyrdom of any martyr in my speech. Any inference should not be drawn from a single line of my speech... I just made a mention of torture I was subjected to at the instance of the then Congress government and this is my right to narrate the incident before the public, that happened with me. Media presented my statement in a negative manner. I myself withdrew the statement in view of public sentiments,” Pragya Thakur said in her reply.
Collector and returning officer for Bhopal Sudama Khade said that he would forward his report based on her reply to the chief electoral officer. He said the EC would take a final call on the action, if any, against her. “Thakur has denied that she has violated any section of model code of conduct. She said it was her personal pain which she shared. We have forwarded the report in the matter with Thakur’s reply to the CEO,” he said.
