Ghaziabad: BJP leader gets threat call from Pakistan over Brij Vihar protests

The leader said he got the call on Monday morning and the caller immediately started threatening him and also warned him that no Muslims in the area should face any issue

A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader on Tuesday claimed that he received a call on Monday, purportedly from a mobile number from Pakistan, wherein the caller threatened to harm his daughter and blast his house in Brij Vihar, in retaliation for the violent protests that followed the rape of a teenaged girl last week.

Brij Vihar witnessed violent protests after a 14-year-old girl was raped allegedly by her Muslim neighbour and locals as well as members of a right wing Hindu group alleged that three more Muslim men were involved in the crime. (Representational image)

Police registered a FIR on the leader’s complaint at the Link Road police station.

According to Yogesh Tripathi, state co-convener of the BJP, he received the call around 9.50am on Monday and the caller immediately started threatening him and also warned him that no Muslims in the area should face any issue.

Brij Vihar witnessed violent protests after a 14-year-old girl was raped allegedly by her Muslim neighbour and locals as well as members of a right wing Hindu group alleged that three more Muslim men were involved in the crime.

A heavy contingent of police were deployed in the area after hundreds of protesters gathered at Brij Vihar chowk and torched vehicles and establishments belonging to Muslims.

“It was in this reference that the caller issued threats, even though I had no link to the protests. The caller even knew my daughter’s name and said he would harm her and my family. The ISD code of the mobile number was 92, which is of Pakistan. He warned that Muslims should not face any more issues,” said Tripathi in his police complaint.

“We have registered an FIR and our teams are trying to trace the caller,” said Rajneesh Upadhyaya, assistant commissioner of police, Sahibabad.

The FIR was registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) section 351(4) (criminal intimidation by anonymous communication) at Link Road police station on Monday.

After the protests in Brij Vihar, police registered an FIR against 250 unidentified rioters and booked them under stringent sections of the BNS besides levying provisions of the Criminal Law Amendment Act.