Death threat against PM Modi leaked security scheme sparks a political row in Kerala
The Hindu
A letter threatening to harm Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his arrival in Kerala on April 24 and an alleged leak of the purported security scheme related to the VVIP’s protection has sparked off a political row.
A handwritten letter threatening to harm Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his arrival in Kerala on a two-day visit on April 24 and an alleged leak of the purported security scheme related to the VVIP’s protection has sparked off a political row.
The police were yet to testify to the “compromised” security scheme’s authenticity. Nevertheless, the 49-page correspondence circulated widely in the media and online platforms appeared to list the PM’s itinerary and timings in granular detail and specified the responsibilities assigned to individual officers tasked with his protection.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has come down heavily on the “grave security breach and police failure”. Union Minister of State V. Muraleedharan said the police have no clue about the “death threat’s” provenance or motive. He also said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan should explain how the PM’s “classified security arrangement scheme” leaked.
Mr. Muraleedharan said the Elevakode train arson incident, which had the shades of a terrorist attack and claimed three lives, emphasised the threat to national security posed by radicals “operating with impunity” in Kerala. He alleged that the State police viewed the PM’s security lightly.
A senior official said the State police were verifying the letter’s provenance and the author’s motive. Investigators infer that a person in Kochi had possibly written the letter impersonating a neighbour with whom he had an axe to grind over some personal disputes related to parish levy collection.
Plainclothes officers visited the “sender’s” home and interviewed him. The police have sent the letter for forensic graphological examination to check its veracity and identify the “real” author.
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) State Committee office in Thiruvananthapuram received the letter last week. The mail threatened a suicide attack against Mr. Modi. BJP State President K. Surendran handed the letter to the State Police Chief, Anil Kant.
The Opposition Congress demanded that the government open the Gandhi Vatika Museum, depicting Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy and freedom struggle, built at a cost of ₹85 crore in Jaipur’s Central Park last year, during the Congress-led regime in Rajasthan. The museum has not been opened to the public, reportedly because of the administration’s engagements with the State Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.