Maoists are planning to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi the way Rajiv Gandhi was killed, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and the state police said today, citing a letter allegedly seized from a person arrested two days back.
Fadnavis said the state police, while arresting five people two days back, seized "internal communication" in which a maoist commander has asked his cadre that Modi should be assassinated.
He said a probe is underway to find more links in connection with the alleged plot.
The letter, which talks about the assassination plot, was recovered from the house of Rona Wilson who was among five people arrested from Mumbai, Nagpur and Delhi in connection with 'Elgar Parishad' held in Maharashtra in December and the subsequent Bhima-Koregaon violence in the district, the police said.
The letter addressed to one Comrade Prakash by sender who identifies himself as 'R', talks about "Rajiv Gandhi-type incident" and suggests that Modi should be targeted during one of his "road shows"
It talks about the requirement of Rs 8 crore for procurement of M-4 assault rifle along with four lakh rounds of ammunition for the purpose.
All the five were yesterday produced before the sessions court which remanded them in police custody till June 14.
The letter reads: "Defeating Hindu fascism has been our core agenda and a major concern for the party. Several leaders from secret cells as well as open organizations have raised this issue very strongly.
"Modi-led Hindu fascist regime is bulldozing its way into the lives of indigenous adivasis. In spite of big defeats like Bihar and West Bengal, Modi has successful established BJP government in more than 15 states.
"If this pace continues, then it would mean immense trouble for the party on all the fronts.
"Comrade Kisan and few other senior comrades have proposed concrete steps to end Modi-Raj. We are thinking along the line of another Rajiv Gandhi type incident."
Rajiv Gandhi, former prime minister, was killed by a woman suicide bomber during a public event in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu on May 21, 1991.
"It sounds suicidal and there is a great chance that we might fail but we feel that the party PB (polit bureau)/CC (central committee) must deliberate over our proposal," the letter adds.
"Targeting his road shows could be an effective strategy. We collectively believe that survival of the party is the supreme to all the sacrifices," it adds.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event in Mumbai, Fadnavis said, "In of one of the internal communications (recovered from the arrested people), a commander has directed his cadre that Modi should be assassinated the way Rajiv Gandhi was killed."
The chief minister added that "many such communications have been seized during the raids" and "the intelligence agencies are at work and the investigations are probing into more links in this connection."
Public Prosecutor Ujjwala Pawar cited the letter while arguing in the court and seeking police custody of the five accused yesterday.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)