Promised Rs 1 crore to issue death threat to UP CM, says man

ATS officers arrested Chunnabhatti resident on Saturday

Uttar Pradesh police on Sunday said that a Mumbaibased man arrested for allegedly issuing a death threat to the state’s chief minister has claimed that he was promised Rs 1 crore for doing so. Special Task Force (UP STF) sources said they had collaborated with the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad to trace 25-year-old Kamran Khan in Chunnabhatti.

Khan had allegedly sent a message to a UP-based social media help desk on May 21 threatening to assassinate Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath in a bombing. He was produced before a local court on Sunday and his transit remand custody was given to UP STF till May 28.

After Khan’s arrest, the social media desk received another message. “Release the person you have arrested, or else you will have to bear the consequences,” the message read. The UP police alerted the Maharashtra ATS about this new message, after which the Nashik Unit of ATS arrested a 20-year-old man from Bhadrakaali in Nashik on Sunday. The suspect admitted to having sent the message. The police are investigating his links with Khan and will hand him over to the Uttar Pradesh police soon.

Soon after the threat was received, an FIR was registered at the Gomti Nagar police station in Lucknow and the UP Special Task Force started an investigation. The Uttar Pradesh police informed the Maharashtra ATS about links to Mumbai in the case.

The ATS Kalachowki unit began a parallel investigation in Mumbai. “On the basis of the mobile number provided by the UP STF, we tracked the location of the suspect to a Mhada Colony in Chunnabhatti on Saturday,” an officer said. “He admitted to having committed the crime.”

Khan claimed that the person who promised him the money contacted him over the phone. “We have seized his mobile phone and are investigating further. A detailed interrogation will reveal if he is telling truth,” said a UP STF source.

Kamran is originally a resident of Null Bazar in South Mumbai and had relocated to Chunabhatti as the building he lived in was undergoing repairs. He used to work as a security guard at Zaveri Bazar, but has been unemployed since 2017, when he had to undergo a spine surgery.

ATS officials said his taxi driver father died two months ago and that he shares his home with his mother, brother and sister. Khan is believed to have a drug addiction, the source said.