Rediff On The NeT: Let cops come to me, says Thackeray

Thackeray says he will name Gulshan killers if the cops go to him

Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray says he is willing to disclose the names of three people he alleges are involved in the murder of music magnate Gulshan Kumar if the Bombay police approaches him.

In an interview to Home TV, to be aired on Monday, September 15, Thackeray, who had earlier hinted that three important persons in the music industry were behind the murder, said he would not pass on the information to police on his own.

''If the police wants they may come to me and I will tell them. But I will not go the police commissioner's office,'' Thackeray said.

He admitted that music director Nadeem, a suspect in the murder case, was his friend, but refused to say whether he believed Nadeem was guilty or whether he was sympathetic to the music director's cause.

''I cannot come to any conclusion at the moment because the investigation is going on and I don't want to be a super power and spoil it.''

Thackeray said Nadeem, who is in London at present, has not spoken to him so far. The Sena chief said he was willing to talk to the music director, but would not help him in the case.

''If he has committed any crime and if he is really involved in the murder of Gulshan, then I am helpless. I can't do anything,'' Thackeray said.

Asked about the Central Bureau of Investigation special court's decision at Lucknow to frame charges against him in the Ayodhya demolition case, Thackeray said he hoped that he would be ultimately acquitted.

''I have not done any crime. Definitely not. I have not incited the people," he said, claiming that the people present in Ayodhya at that time have not been implicated while he, who was in Bombay, is one of the accused. "I did not know I was that powerful a person or that my remote control works from here to Babri.''

He said he was seeking legal opinion whether to appeal alone or along with Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, including L K Advani and Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, who have also been asked to stand trial.

Thackeray asserted that there was no conspiracy to demolish the mosque.

''To be frank with you it was absolutely a spontaneous move by the people there. Also, I have not incited anybody. Throughout that thing, I was here in town (Bombay). But I did not stop those who wanted to go there."

Asked whether he regretted applauding the demolition, he said he would repeat it. ''I am not scared of anything. Why should I regret it?''

He would personally appear in court on October 17 as directed by the special judge, he said. ''There is nobody above the law. So as a citizen of this country, I have to accept the rule of the land.''

Tell us what you think of this report