Suo motu case filed over threat call to Guha

BENGALURU:  After historian and author Ramachandra Guha received a threat call over his now-deleted beef-eating tweet, the city police have recommended him to take police protection even as they registered a suo motu case over the threat calls made to him on Sunday.It is learnt that Guha, who has refused to file a police complaint, has not responded to the advice of the police.

In the aftermath of journalist Gauri Lankesh’s murder in September last year, the police department had prepared a list of progressive thinkers to whom police security should be provided. Guha was also approached by the police then and was told that he would be given a gunman from the department. Even then, Guha had refused to take protection.

Guha, on Sunday, had tweeted, “I have received threat calls from a man calling himself Sanjay from Delhi. His number is +91-98351-38678. He threatened my wife as well as me. This is for the record”. In this background, the city police approached him again and advised him to take a gunman.

Additional Commissioner of Police (East) Seemant Kumar Singh told The New Indian Express that Guha was given a letter by the Halasuru police on Monday regarding the same. “As he has received a threatening call, we have communicated to him in writing that providing security to him is necessary. He has not yet responded.”

Sources, however, said Guha did not respond positively when he was told about the need to have a gunman. “He is not responding to any of our requests. He was requested to file a police complaint but he refused. He is not even responding to our phone calls. However, we have deployed police personnel at his residence as a precautionary measure,” an officer said.

Meanwhile, as Guha was unwilling to file a police complaint, the Halasuru police have registered a suo motu case, in an effort to play it safe and probe into the case to find out who the threat caller is. “We have taken up a suo motu complaint based on the tweet Guha has made. The caller will be traced and questioned,” the police.