Police officials claim that the accused wore burqa to conceal their identity
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI – Two close friends of Santosh Sharma, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore, have been arrested for issuing a death threat to him.
Meera Kadam and Chhotu Bagwan were arrested after the VHP leader had received a death threat letter written in Urdu on July 12 allegedly from a burqa-clad woman. A police investigation later revealed that the Hindu accused who were close friends of Sharma had written the letter.
The incident occurred in the Tukoganj police jurisdiction, where the Hindutva leader has reported receiving threats, a report in Siasat.com said on Tuesday
The letter written in Urdu and translated into Hindu language reportedly contained a chilling message: “Read these lines and you will understand everything, now you will not be saved,” along with the phrase “Allah -o- Akbar”.
Sharma who had previously received a beheading threat on 23 March 2023 stated that such threats have become a regular occurrence. He further claimed that he remains steadfast in his commitment to his work for Hindutva, despite the anxiety it causes his family and organisation members, the report said.
In the old letter, he was also threatened to “cease working against Islamic extremism”.
In a video, senior police stated that the death threat letter that had raised significant concerns about communal tensions in the region was written in Urdu language and was handed over to the security guard of Sharma’s building allegedly by a burqa-clad woman.
Following the incident, Tukoganj police launched an investigation and arrested Kadam and Bagwan.
“The accused have acknowledged their crime during interrogation. Their identification was made possible through CCTV footage from the area. They were close to Sharma,” the police official added.
When reporters asked the police official if the conspiracy was intended to frame a particular community or provoke communal strife, the official ignored the question. However, the Islamic phrases in the letter unambiguously expose the intention of the accused.
