BENGALURU/DAVANAGERE: City police arrested a right-wing activist in his late 20s from Davanagere on Saturday on charges of sending threat letters to Kannada writers and intellectuals for the last one year. Shivaji Rao Jadhav, a resident of EWS colony in Davanagere, is in 13-day police custody now.
The seals on the hand-written letters, all in Kannada, led the cops to the accused, who had written and posted them from different districts.
Police confirmed Banjagere Jayaprakash, Vasundhara Bhupati, Kum Veerabhadrappa, BL Venu and BT Lalitha Naik having received threat letters from the accused, who confessed to have written to 15 individuals for what he claimed to be their anti-Hindu ideologies.
Seven First Information Reports (FIRs) were registered by the recipients at different districts and in Bengaluru city. The case was transferred to Central Crime Branch (CCB) last month, with an ACP-ranked officer monitoring the probe.
Though police did not have any clue apart from the letters, the seals on the postal covers helped them crack the case. “The handwriting in all the 15 letters and their subject matter were the same. They were posted from district headquarters. With the help of the seals on the postal covers, we visited the post offices in Chitradurga, Davanagere, Shivamogga and a few places in North Karnataka,” an official said. “There were no CCTV cameras in many of those post offices. So, we studied the mobile numbers that were in operation near those post offices on the dates when the letters were posted. We also questioned the suspects and studied their handwriting. We reached Jadhav on September 28. A handwriting expert, who had studied Jadhav’s writing, confirmed that it was indeed him who had written those letters and we arrested him,” the oficial added.
Reacting to the arrest, the accused’s brother Raghavendra said it came as a shock to the family. “We are not sure whether it was his idea, or someone had provoked him. Identifying himself with Hindu Jagarana Vedike and Veera Savarkar Geleyara Balaga, Shivaji used to take part in right-wing programmes.”
BL Venu said he’s confident that police would ensure the accused’s punishment. Kum Veerabhadrappa said: “Jadhav is just a drop in the ocean of terrorism.”
The seals on the hand-written letters, all in Kannada, led the cops to the accused, who had written and posted them from different districts.
Police confirmed Banjagere Jayaprakash, Vasundhara Bhupati, Kum Veerabhadrappa, BL Venu and BT Lalitha Naik having received threat letters from the accused, who confessed to have written to 15 individuals for what he claimed to be their anti-Hindu ideologies.
Seven First Information Reports (FIRs) were registered by the recipients at different districts and in Bengaluru city. The case was transferred to Central Crime Branch (CCB) last month, with an ACP-ranked officer monitoring the probe.
Though police did not have any clue apart from the letters, the seals on the postal covers helped them crack the case. “The handwriting in all the 15 letters and their subject matter were the same. They were posted from district headquarters. With the help of the seals on the postal covers, we visited the post offices in Chitradurga, Davanagere, Shivamogga and a few places in North Karnataka,” an official said. “There were no CCTV cameras in many of those post offices. So, we studied the mobile numbers that were in operation near those post offices on the dates when the letters were posted. We also questioned the suspects and studied their handwriting. We reached Jadhav on September 28. A handwriting expert, who had studied Jadhav’s writing, confirmed that it was indeed him who had written those letters and we arrested him,” the oficial added.
Reacting to the arrest, the accused’s brother Raghavendra said it came as a shock to the family. “We are not sure whether it was his idea, or someone had provoked him. Identifying himself with Hindu Jagarana Vedike and Veera Savarkar Geleyara Balaga, Shivaji used to take part in right-wing programmes.”
BL Venu said he’s confident that police would ensure the accused’s punishment. Kum Veerabhadrappa said: “Jadhav is just a drop in the ocean of terrorism.”
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