Man arrested for writing threat letters to litterateurs, intellectuals in Karnataka

Over 15 writers and intellectuals from the state had met Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara, stating that they had been receiving threat letters, including threat of being met with same fate as those of late activists M M Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh, for the past one year.

Bengaluru police on Saturday announced the arrest of a Davangere resident, who allegedly sent death threats to several Kannada writers and intellectuals by post. 

The suspect, Shivaji Rao Jadhav, 41, is said to be the convenor of an obscure Hindutva outfit. He allegedly sent over 100 threat letters to Kannada authors since April 2022, according to police. 

Kum Veerabhadrappa, one of the authors who received the letters, suggested that Jadhav was “just a pawn” while the actual masterminds remained scot-free. “Such anti-social elements must be arrested immediately and brought to book,” he told DH. 

Others to receive the letters were former minister B T Lalita Naik, and writers Dr Vasundhara Bhupathi, Banjagere Jayaprakash and B L Venu. 

A total of seven cases were registered over the matter: one each in Chitradurga, Kottur (near Hosapete) and Sanjaynagar (in Bengaluru), two each in Harohalli (in Ramanagara district) and Basaveshwara Nagar (in Bengaluru). 

Speaking to reporters, Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda said a forensic examination of the letters confirmed that one man had written them all. 

“The handwriting in all the letters matched and gave us a crucial lead. Building on vague leads, our team stepped out for fieldwork. The suspect was subsequently identified and arrested,” Dayananda said. “He has confessed to writing the letters.” 

According to Dayananda, the suspect wrote the letters because he wanted them to “stop” them from speaking out against his “religion”. 

Investigations by Davangere police threw light on Jadhav’s criminal record. He was once taken into preventive custody and was also accused of molestation, Dayananda added. 

He was brought to Davangere for a mahazar.