Nitin Gadkari received threat calls due to RSS connection: Jayesh Pujari reveals during investigation

Jayesh Pujari has made threat calls to Nitin Gadkari as he is known for his closeness to RSS. He also told investigators that RSS should be banned.

Nagpur: The murder convict, who is the main suspect behind the threat calls to Union minister Nitin Gadkari, has claimed that he made the calls out of hatred towards Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), officials said after interrogating him.

The murder convict, Jayesh Kantha alias Jayesh Pujari has also raised the issue of banning the RSS arguing that if the Popular Front of India (PFI) can be banned then why can't a similar action be taken against the Hindu outfit. He reportedly confessed before the investigating team that he threatened Gadkari and demanded extortion due to the minister's proximity to RSS.

According to officials, when gangster Pujari was serving life sentence for murder charges in a jail in Karnataka's Belagavi, he came in contact with many gangsters and later even got converted to another religion. Agency sources said that after conversion he became a fanatic and came in touch with several office bearers of the PFI. Pujari was allegedly brainwashed by those functionaries against RSS and remained disturbed for many years.

Soon, Pujari had developed hatred towards RSS and considered the outfit to be him enemy. It seems that the operatives of the banned outfit took advantage of this hatred and chose him to threat the Union minister, sources said. Investigations have revealed that he had come in contact with PFI's national executive council secretary Mohammad Afsar Pasha and then with another terror activist, who reportedly brainwashed Pujari and assigned him the task.

Pujari confessed that he threatened and demanded extortion from Gadkari as the minister is known for his closeness to the RSS. It was also revealed that he had threatened many other leaders in the past, sources said.

Earlier, after arresting Pujari from Belagavi he was brought to Nagpur and was booked under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for his alleged links to terrorist organisations. In view of the sensitivity of the case, NIA has been handed over the investigations. Two officers of the rank of deputy inspector general and superintendent collected information from Nagpur police officials on Thursday.