Shehla withdraws comment saying Gadkari was plotting PM's death

After a tweet by a Leftist former student leader kicked off a controversy a day ago, alleging that Nitin Gadkari and the RSS were planning to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi, she backtracked, after the Union minister threatened legal action.

Shehla Rashid, a former vice president of the JNU Students Union, had claimed on Twitter that RSS and Gadkari were planning to assassinate Modi and then put the blame on Muslims and Communists.

"Looks like RSS/Gadkari is planning to assassinate Modi, and then blame it upon Muslims/Communists and then lynch Muslims #RajivGandhiStyle," Shehla said in an apparent reference to claims made in a letter, allegedly written by Maoists, which carried details of plans to assassinate the prime minister in a "Rajiv Gandhi-type incident".

Gadkari hit back without naming Shehla, saying he would take action against "anti-social elements" making bizarre comments against him.

"I would be taking legal action on anti-social elements who have made bizzare comments; attributing personal motives to me, regarding the assassination threat to PM @narendramodi," Gadkari said.

Soon after Gadkari's warning, Shehla claimed that her remarks were "sarcastic" and the minister was getting unnecessarily "worked up".

"Leader of world's biggest party gets worked up about a sarcastic tweet," Shehla, who was associated with the All India Students Association, the student wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation.

On Friday, the Pune Police claimed to have recovered a letter, dated April 18, 2017, and addressed to one Comrade Prakash, from the house of a Delhi-based activist, Rona Wilson.

The police claimed that the letter revealed a plot to assassinate Modi in a "Rajiv Gandhi-type incident" during one of his roadshows.