An unknown man made a threatening call to Union Minister Nitin Gadkari's official residence on Motilal Nehru Road. The call was received by Gadkari's office staff on Monday night, news agency PTI reported citing officials on Tuesday (May 16). According to the report, the caller did not provide any information and instead demanded to speak with the minister and threaten him.
Police said: "The caller spoke in Hindi and said 'mujhe mantri ji se baat karni hai, unhe threaten karna hai' (I want to talk to the minister and want to threaten him), and disconnected the call," PTI quoted the official as saying.
The office of the minister reported the matter to Delhi Police which is now investigating the matter. "All call records details are being analysed. The accused had called on the landline number so we are trying to trace the number to get to the culprit. An enquiry is underway," the officer added.
It is to be noted that the minister's office in Nagpur had received such threat calls on two separate occasions earlier this year.
A team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had gone to Nagpur on May 9 to conduct an investigation into the matter. The calls were allegedly made by a murder convict, Jayesh Pujari alias Kantha, who was arrested from jail in Belagavi, Karnataka, and booked under the anti-terror law UAPA, police had said.
The Maharashtra-born Indian politician is the current Minister of Road Transport and Highways. He is also the longest-serving minister, who has been in office for more than eight years.
Earlier on Monday, while speaking at a program commemorating the death anniversary of former Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat in Khachariyawas village in Rajasthan's Sikar district, Gadkari stated that votes are won through "politics of service" rather than "posters and banners." He has now decided that in the next election, he will not put up posters or offer tea to people in his constituency because "those who have to vote will vote, and those who do not will not." Simultaneously, he expressed confidence in increasing his winning margin in the next poll.