Gadkari threat call case: Police claim accused has links with Dawood gang, LeT, PFI

Union minister Nitin Gadkari (file image)

A man arrested for allegedly making threatening calls to Union minister Nitin Gadkari's office in Nagpur had connections with the Dawood Ibrahim gang and outlawed organisations Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Popular Front of India (PFI), a top police official said on Thursday.

Jayesh Pujari alias Kantha alias Salim Shahir Kantha, a murder convict, is accused of making threatening calls to Gadkari's public relations office in Nagpur  first in January and then in March.

The Dhantoli police in the city has invoked the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) against him.

Nagpur Commissioner of Police Amitesh Kumar on Thursday said that probe revealed that he had connections with the Dawood gang, PFI and LeT.

"He has been radicalised. He was hatching a conspiracy in jail with other D-gang (Dawood gang) members," Kumar said.

On January 14, Pujari allegedly made a call to Gadkari's office, claiming to be a member of the Dawood gang and demanding Rs 100 crore.

On March 21, he made another call, threatening to harm the senior BJP leader if Rs 10 crore was not paid.

Officials of the Intelligence Bureau too have questioned him since Nagpur police took his custody from a jail in Belagavi, police sources said.