Man detained in Kota for threatening to shoot Rahul Gandhi, other Congress MPs

Jaipur: A man who allegedly put out a video threatening to shoot Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and 25 other MPs of the opposition party was detained by police in Rajasthan's Kota on Thursday, a senior official said.

The man, who identified himself as Raj Singh, the spokesperson of the right-wing group Karni Sena, said in the purported video that all BJP and Karni Sena workers were angered by the way 25 Congress MPs verbally abused Speaker Om Birla in the Lok Sabha during the recently concluded first part of the Budget session of Parliament.

"If such an incident occurs again, we will enter the houses of those MPs and vandalise them. I believe this incident occurred on Rahul Gandhi's orders. Rahul Gandhi, listen carefully, if such an incident occurs again, we will barge into your house and shoot you," Singh said in the video.

"If those MPs are arrested within 24 hours, it is fine. Otherwise, we will shoot them all one by one," he said.

After the video surfaced on social media, Singh was detained by Kota police.

Kota Superintendent of Police (SP) Tejaswani Gautam told PTI that police took suo motu action and detained the accused at Borkheda police station. He is being questioned regarding the video.

"As of now, there has been no confirmation regarding his links to any organisation. Four criminal cases are already registered against him at Udyog Nagar police station. Appropriate legal proceedings will be initiated under relevant sections," she said.

In the video, a picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Birla shaking hands with each other is seen hanging on the wall behind Singh.

Both the BJP and the Karni Sena denied having any association with Singh.

"I want to clarify that the person seen in the viral video has no connection with the BJP. The BJP is a disciplined party committed to nation-building. This type of language and conduct are completely contrary to our ideology and moral values," BJP Kota city president Rakesh Jain said.

Mahipal Singh Makrana, national president of Shri Rajput Karni Sena, said the man who issued the video statement was not associated with the group.

He said the Karni Sena has never issued a statement threatening someone's life.

"We talk about protesting, showing black flags, taking to the streets, but never about killing someone. We do not endorse such a path. That is not our ideology," he said.

"For us, Narendra Modi is as respectful as Rahul Gandhi. We may have ideological differences with others, but we do not issue such threats. The person making such a public threat to take someone's life has nothing to do with us. This individual is not a member of the Karni Sena," Makrana said.