Handwritten death threats against Karnataka writers baffle cops

B L Venu, a writer based out of the district, received a letter on July 10 threatening death if he spoke up against the Hindu right wing. This was the second such anonymous handwritten threat sent to him in two months.

But Venu is not alone; he is just one among the several other Karnataka writers to have received similar threatening letters. Over the past two months, several writers were reported to have gotten anonymous threats.

The police were not yet able to trace the source of these handwritten letters.

A novelist with a significant readership, Venu regretted that the government was not taking the threats seriously. “It is surprising that the chief minister has not spoken about it so far. The letter is signed off ‘Sahishnu Hindu (Tolerant Hindu)’, but says, ‘Stop making comments against Hindutva leaders Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and K B Hedgewar. If not, you will be killed’,” he told DH.

Venu said he would “continue to speak the truth” at public events. “The author is a coward as he can't speak to me directly. I have not lodged any complaint, but I have shared the letter with the police. They have strengthened the beat system in the area where I live. It is an open secret that people associated with the RSS are behind this as they post threat letters when I speak against Hindutva leaders,” Venu said.

The police in Vijayanagara, too, were investigating the letters sent to local resident and writer Kum Veerabhadrappa. The police suspect the threats are being made by the same person to all writers. “We are going all out to trace the writer of these letters, but we have not found any clue,” a source in the police department said.

The threatening letters and the police’s inaction have been traumatic for those receiving them.

Veerabhadrappa got a sixth letter threatening him—all of them written in Kannada. The first one was sent to him in April this year. He said he was not scared, but wondered why the government was silent about this. “When this is the ground reality, whom do we complain to?” he said.

According to him, there were two kinds of writers in Karnataka—one that questioned the system and the other that remained silent. “I belong to the first group. I will continue to get such letters as long as Hindutva forces are strong in the society,” Veerabhadrappa said.

Vijayanagar Superintendent of Police Arun K told DH that the letters were sent from Shivamogga, Chitradurga and Haveri.

Although local intelligence reports stated the threat was not real, the beat police were keeping an eye out, the SP said. “It could be a prank. But it is against the law, and the culprit will be brought to justice.”

Chitradurga Superintendent of Police Parashuram K told DH that the culprit had managed to escape capture because he didn’t use modern communication platforms such as Twitter, Facebook or WhatsApp to threaten the writers. “This is the major reason for not getting any breakthrough in the probe so far. The culprit drops a letter from the place of his/her choice. It takes more than a week to reach writers. So, it is difficult to trace the author of the anonymous threat letters. However, the investigation team has expedited the probe, based on similarities in all the letters written to writers across Karnataka,” he said.

State home minister Aaraga Jnanendra said he had already directed ADGP (Law & Order) Alok Kumar to trace those behind the threat letters.