EC issues notice to Pragya

The Election Commission has served a notice to Pragya Singh Thakur, the candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Bhopal Lok Sabha constituency in Madhya Pradesh, seeking explanation for her remarks on the slain Mumbai Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare.

The notice has been issued by Collector and District Election Officer of Bhopal, S Khade, on behalf of the Election Commission. Sadhvi Pragya has been asked to respond to the notice within a day.

The notice was also issued to the chief of the BJP’s district unit in Bhopal, Vikas Virani, who organised the event where Sadhvi Pragya had made the controversial remark on the slain Mumbai ATS chief.

Pragya attracted severe criticism when she said that Karkare had been killed because she had cursed him. She accused Karkare of torturing her when she was in police custody. Later she apologized and withdrew her comments.

Pragya is one of the accused in connection with the killing of six people in a blast at Malegaon in Maharashtra on September 29, 2008. She was arrested in 2008. Karkare led the investigation in connection with the case.

Pragya, who is taking on Digvijay Singh of the Congress in Bhopal, was given a clean chit by the National Investigation Agency in 2015. The trial court however did not let her off. She was cleared of charges under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act and has been granted bail by the Bombay High Court in 2017. She, however, remains an accused under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.