Writer reportedly received the calls after Lok Sabha poll results
BANGALORE: Home Minister K J George on Wednesday said that the police would launch a probe to identify the culprits who had made threatening phone calls to Jnanapith awardee U R Ananthamurthy.
Replying to queries from reporters on the police providing security to the veteran writer’s residence at Dollar’s Colony in RMV Second Stage in the City, after some unidentified people allegedly made threating calls to him, George said the police would take act against those who made such calls.
However, a senior IPS officer told Deccan Herald that the police were not carrying out any probe as of now, as no formal complaint has been lodged.
“We got to know about the alleged calls only after a person close to Ananthamurthy told us about it. We provided security only to ensure that no untoward incident takes place. If there is an order from the higher authority to investigate the case, we will take necessary action.”
A police source said that the intimidating calls were apparently related to the controversial statement made by the writer against the prime minister-designate Narendra Modi.
Ananthamurthy had said: “I would not want to live in a country where Modi is the prime minister. I don’t want to see a man like Modi in the chair where once great leader Nehru sat and ruled.”
The calls reportedly started coming after the Lok Sabha election results were declared. A group claiming itself to be NaMo Brigade allegedly forged and posted a flight ticket for Pakistan asking Ananthamurthy to leave the country.
