Digvijay Singh - Wag The Dog?

Since the series of UPA scams broke out Digvijay Singh (DS) has been in the news. Mostly for the wrong reasons. Well, I would think that’s the job assigned to him. To muddy the picture and create confusion and to distract from the scams. He first starts by attending a book launch of ‘26/11 an RSS Conspiracy’ by his friend Aziz Burney. There he makes some comments about Hindu Terror and how Hemant Karkare, the ATS Officer, feared for his life.

Mind you, DS reiterates that he is in no doubt that Pakistani terrorists were responsible for 26/11 and Karkare’s death. So why would a person attend the book launch of something called ‘26/11 an RSS Conspiracy’? That book doesn’t sound like a romantic love story or any work of fiction. Does it? And since then DS has been on a roll with all kinds of confusing and contradictory statements. The mainstream media laps it all up like a faithful dog without any questions.

Here’s what DS first said (Dec 11):

"I had spoken to him three and a half hours...It was between 6 and 7 pm on 26/11.... I was very shocked when I came to know that he was killed", he told reporters today. (My view: If this were true, then DS would have been speaking to Karkare while he was putting on the supposed bullet-proof jacket and then all the way to his death...) Three and a half hours? A working ATS officer speaks for three and a half hours to a non-working has been? (I want that job!!)

When asked about phone records he stated that BSNL does not maintain records beyond 14 months. That itself was surprising. I was under the impression that given the terrorist threats cell phone companies were supposed to maintain records for seven years. But never mind that, he manages to get the BSNL records after all. So whether BSNL or DS lied about the 14 months is another matter altogether.

He later said (with phone records on Jan 5):

The call was placed at 5.44 pm. Singh said, “I called up Karkare on the ATS office phone number listed on the website.” Singh had earlier maintained that he had spoken Karkare on his mobile phone number; now he has cited ATS board number. It still does not constitute indisputable proof that Karkare had spoken to him.

He knew Hemant Karkare well and for long for the Officer to be confiding in him and yet he didn’t have his number? He had to find it on a website? Well that’s possible, after all we all search for our close friends’ phone numbers on websites, don’t we? Imagine DS hanging around somewhere with nothing to do and so he decided to search for Hemant Karkare's phone number on a website.That's totally credible!

TOI reports: According to the documents, Singh called Maharashtra ATS number 022-23087336 from his BSNL mobile number 09425015461. Karkare and he talked for about six minutes.

India Today reports: The BSNL call records apparently show that Karkare called Singh from his office landline on that fateful day. The call was made at 5:44 PM and lasted three minutes. Digvijay said the call was made on his mobile phone. 

Why can’t the mediacrooks make up their mind on how long DS actually talked? And to whom? Why should anyone believe that because DS called a landline number in the ATS office at Mumbai that he actually spoke to him? And the time of the call, of course, is another issue too. First DS said it was between 6 and 7 pm and the records show 5.44 pm. Fine, after over two years a slight variation in time is acceptable. But how long did he talk? 3 Minutes? 6 Minutes? Three and a half hours? And who actually made the call to whom? DS to Karkare or Karkare to DS?

And most of all, why did DS call Hemant Karkare at all? Is there a reason? If it was just a friendly courtesy call one would have thought DS would have called Karkare’s mobile number which initially he had claimed he had. Given that it’s the BSNL which has provided proof of his call it implies it was DS who called that landline number from his mobile. So one can safely conclude that Karkare definitely didn’t make a call to DS. But did he actually receive the call from DS? Seems unlikely, especially because dead men tell no tales.

Aziz Burney may not be the only one to hatch conspiracy theories. A wag mentioned to me that DS called Karkare because DS already knew that Karkare was going to die. Isn't that possible? Isn't it possible that DS suddenly decided to call Karkare because he knew the officer was going to die? This is another angle that investigators should look into as well. 

DS may have launched that book about the 26/11 Conspiracy but unfortunately a pigeon again told me what book he actually reads. So I have just one line that describes both the Congress (I) and Digvijay Singh – Wag The Dog!

Update: (Jan 7) If DS has produced BSNL proof then that has to be his mobile call to the ATS landline number. That landline number has to be an MTNL number since Bombay is operated by MTNL. Why won't the media seek a corroboration from MTNL on the call?