Mentally ill man ‘threatens’ to bomb RSS HQ, arrested after manhunt

Nagpur: The letter read: Hum Nagpur mein aa gaye hai, RSS office, Reshimbaug, Reshimbaug cricket ground, Suresh Bhatt hall, bacha sake toh bacha lo, theek 9 baaje hum milenge jarur on November 25 (We have already reached Nagpur, save RSS office, Reshimbagh, Reshimbagh cricket ground, Suresh Bhat hall if you can, at 9am on November 25), followed by a sketch of a bomb and the word ‘dhaadam’ (sound of an explosion), and ending with ‘Amitesh Kumar CP’.
In the sender’s name and address, it mentioned ‘president, Indian Institute of Young Welfare, Tilak Nagar’.
The letter, starting with three holy symbols of a particular religion, penned in green, reached Sakkardara police station some hours after the 9am deadline mentioned in it. However, the cops could not take lightly the threat to highly sensitive installation like the RSS headquarters, and the adjoining Reshimbaug cricket ground and Suresh Bhat auditorium.
The letter had been penned and despatched from the speed post outlet near Zero Mile on November 24. CCTV camera footage of the place was the first step for the police to crack the mystery. A man was seen walking into the centre wearing a mask and helmet, at 7am. Later, the man told police he wrote the letter on the bike itself with a green sketch pen.
The Sakkardara police, which deployed its entire staff to the effort, toiled for 72 hours, round the clock under the supervision of CP Amitesh Kumar, Jt CP Aswathi Dorje and additional CP Navinchandra Reddy to find the man.
“We had to scrutinize 250 private CCTV cameras, apart from those of Command-and-Control (CoC) centre, prepare sketches, conduct research on bike design and the make too, since the registration number was not visible in any CCTV footage,” said senior inspector Dhananjay Patil of Sakkardara police station. “The footage just showed the man entering and leaving Shivaji Nagar area. So cops fanned out to search from building to building, before we spotted the bike used by him in one of the parking areas. It had the same make and dickey,” said Patil.
The man was identified and taken into custody on November 30. It turned out that the man whose threatening letter triggered the massive operation was a 44-year-old employed as deputy engineer with the Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company Limited (MSETCL). Police also found that the organization mentioned in his letter was fake, which he also admitted in his confession during interrogation.
Police sources said man had developed mental issues after losing his mother two years ago. His father too maintained a distance from him, which is likely to have further aggravated his mental issues. His wife is principal at an ITI institute in the city.
Police now believe the man’s disturbed state probably led him to vent his emotions through this weird letter.
CP Kumar said the engineer behaved unsoundly during interrogation too. “We have registered a non-cognizable offence (505 (b) and 507 of Indian Penal Code). Permission to investigate the case was procured from the court. The case would be eventually chargesheeted,” said the top cop.
It’s learnt the arrested man was himself present at Suresh Bhatt hall on November 25, the day he had threatened to blow up the area, to attend a two-day cultural event organized by his office.
Police searched his residence for several hours but found nothing suspicious. They also conducted an inquiry at his office, which also highlighted his reticent and reserved personality.