Probe Agency NIA Begins Probe Into Nitin Gadkari Death Threats

A National Investigation Agency team arrived in Nagpur on Thursday to probe threat calls received at the office of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, for which a murder convict lodged in a Karnataka jail has been held, an official said.

Jayesh Pujari alias Kantha is accused of making the calls from a jail in Belgaum in neighbouring Karnataka, as per police.

On January 14, he demanded Rs 100 crore from Nitin Gadkari claiming to be a member of the Dawood Ibrahim gang, while he made a second call seeking Rs 10 crore on March 21.

He was brought to Nagpur on March 28 after police invoked the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

A police probe found he had links to Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives and had also got arms training from ultras in the north east of the country, after which the Ministry of Home Affairs directed the NIA to begin a probe, the official said.

"An NIA team under a deputy inspector general rank officer has arrived in Nagpur. The NIA team took case papers of two offences registered in the matter in Dhantoli police station in their possession. They will decide if Kantha needs to be arrested immediately," he said.

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