Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) have arrested Raj Mohammad, a resident of Puddukottai district in Tamil Nadu, for a bomb threat to six Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) offices, including two in Uttar Pradesh and four in Karnataka. The ATS squad will bring the suspect to Lucknow on transit remand.
Lucknow police on Tuesday registered an FIR in connection with the same. “An FIR was registered at Madiyaon PS in connection with a bomb threat to the RSS office in Lucknow & Unnao. A WhatsApp message threatening that RSS offices will be blown up was sent at 8 pm yesterday. With Cyber Cell’s help, the number that sent the message will be traced,” Lucknow Police said in a statement.
Lucknow Police said, “An FIR was registered at Madiyaon PS in connection with a bomb threat to the RSS offices in Lucknow and Unnao. A WhatsApp message threatening that the RSS offices will be blown up was sent on Monday night. With the help of the Cyber Cell, the number that sent the message is being traced.”
The messages from international numbers were sent to Sangh member Neelkanth Tiwari in Hindi, English, and Kannada. The threats came after RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat called for communal harmony while speaking at the concluding ceremony of the third year of Sangh Shiksha Varg in Nagpur last week. He said no community should resort to extremism but also claimed that there has been less “intimidation” from the Hindu side.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Home Minister Araga Jananendra said RSS offices in the state will be provided with adequate security, close on the heels of bomb threats to cause destruction to them. A man has been arrested in neighbouring Tamil Nadu for circulating a message on WhatsApp threatening to destroy RSS offices, including four in the state.
“In the wake of messages threatening to destroy RSS offices in the state, all RSS offices will be provided with adequate security,” Jnanendra said.
He said, “a case has been registered in this regard. Stringent legal action will be taken against miscreants making such threat calls or sending such messages,” the Minister was quoted by his office in a statement.
In March this year, Karnataka police arrested Tamil Nadu Tawheed Jamath (TNTJ) auditing committee member Kovai Rahmathullah and its headquarters speaker S Jamal Mohammed Usmani for issuing death threats to Karnataka high court judges who delivered the ‘hijab verdict’ that upheld a ban on female students wearing the Islamic headscarf in schools.
It is shocking to know that most of the people by the NIA were from Tamil Nadu, which is a heaven for fundamentalist forces. Following the arrest of one Sadik Basha or Sathik Batcha and four of his associates in February, Tamil Nadu based organisation, the Manitha Neethi Pasarai, has come under the scanner. NIA said on May 16 last all these persons are sympathisers of the Islamic State (ISIS) and were involved in various anti-national acts. NIA arrested an Islamic State terror suspect, 25-year-old d A Mohammed Ashiq, at Needur near Mayiladuthurai last May. He was wanted in a criminal conspiracy aimed at attacking a few Hindumunnani leaders in Coimbatore in 2018. He is alleged to have sworn allegiance to ISIS in 2018.
