Karnataka minister calls Pahalgam widow's claim 'mental fog'

BAGALKOT: A day after dismissing as 'mental fog' a Pahalgam attack widow's eyewitness account of terrorists asking her husband's religion before shooting him dead, Karnataka excise minister RB Timmapur made a dramatic U-turn on Sunday. "It's claimed that terrorists checked the religion of their victims. If it is true, how could a Muslim person also die in the attack? It's just BJP's conspiracy of politicising deaths," Timmapur told reporters on Saturday.

When pointed out that Pallavi, wife of victim Manjunath Rao from Shivamogga, had said that her husband was asked his religion before he was shot dead, Timmapur had said, "She might not have been in the best frame of mind when she said that". He had claimed that there was "no proper information" on whether terrorists singled out Hindus during the attack.