Anantkumar Hegde, the union minister of skill development and entrepreneurship, received death threats Sunday, April 22. An unknown person had allegedly called the Uttara Kannada MP in the middle of the night and said -- "we will behead you".
Soon after the incident took place, the minister's personal assistant, Suresh Shetty, filed a complaint with the Sirsi new market police station in Uttara Kannada district, Karnataka. Police have started an investigation.
#Karnataka: Union Minister Anant Kumar Hegde allegedly received a threat call in the wee hours of Sunday. His personal assistant has lodged a complaint at Sirsi New Market Police station. Police registered a complaint under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 504 & 507. pic.twitter.com/8Dh5LQsQig
— ANI (@ANI) April 23, 2018
According to the complaint, an unknown person had called Hegde's mobile number at around 2.17 am. However, he did not pick up the call. The caller tried again, but this time, on his landline number.
The person apparently told the minister, "You think you are a big leader? We will behead you. We'll chop your body into pieces." The unidentified caller then hung up the call.
The union minister took to Twitter to address the issue.
What more can I expect from such insensitive, incapable & incompetant govt., which wants to please the #Jihadi forces at any cost? Such calls have only strengthened me and have resolved my steely grit further. My stand towards certain issues would never be diluted [sic].
I have formally lodged a complaint in this context in #Sirsi without any expectations from the govt., Off late, I have lodged series of complaints against antisocial elements harassing & threatining me which so far has not seen any logical conclusion. pic.twitter.com/oLOJRvAkl6
— Anantkumar Hegde (@AnantkumarH) April 22, 2018
Uttara Kannada SP Vinayak Patil confirmed the threat calls to Hegde and said the investigations are on. The police have registered a case under section 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 507 ( criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication) of the Indian Penal Code, ANI reported.
Hegde met with an accident April 17. The minister had then claimed that the incident was a "deliberate attempt" to kill him. Hegde said that a truck driver had rammed into his car while he was traveling near Halageri in Haveri district.
However, the truck missed his car and hit an escort vehicle. Hegde had also tweeted an image of the truck that hit the vehicle. The police arrested the truck driver, however, they refuted Hegde's claims saying that it was not an "assassination bid" but just an accident, the Times of India reported.
