Shahnawaz Hussain receives threat letter

An FIR was filed after Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain received a threat letter at his official residence in central Delhi on Friday, police said.

The letter was received at Hussain’s official residence on Pandit Pant Marg around 11 am. Hussain immediately informed police and handed over the letter to staff from North Avenue police station.

The sender of the handwritten Urdu letter with some English words identified himself as someone from militant group Islamic State (IS).

While not dismissing the sensitivity of the case, senior police officers said they suspected it to be a prank letter.

Addressed to the senior BJP leader, the letter warned that he was on IS radar and that the group was contemplating where and when he should be attacked.

However, much of the letter’s contents consisted of abuses meted out to some senior women leaders of the party.

The sender also picked on Baba Ramdev for his alleged inclination to use cow urine in some of his products.

A case under Indian Penal Code was subsequently registered with North Avenue police station. The source of the letter is yet to be identified.

Hussain told the media that he is not going to be scared of such threats. “I have received a threatening letter which had derogatory content against my party and my statements,” he added.

Hussain had also received a threat call in November 2014 over which a case was registered with Parliament Street police station. The caller had abused Hussain for supporting the central government on television debates.

The threat letter came on a day when 14 youths were arrested or detained across the country over suspected links with IS. The raids were carried out simultaneously in Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. On Tuesday, Delhi Police had also arrested four men in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar district.