Chirag Paswan receives terror threat, office seeks enhanced security

Union Minister Chirag Paswan received an unsigned threat communication claiming he would be killed by “hardcore terrorists”, his office said. It sought an urgent Home Ministry investigation into the threat and a review and possible enhancement of the minister’s Z-category security arrangements

New Delhi: Union Minister Chirag Paswan, a Z-category protectee, on Tuesday received threat messages claiming that he would be “killed by terrorists”, according to his office, which sought enhanced security for him.

The office of Paswan, who is the supremo of Lok Janshakti Party (R), has asked the Home Ministry for a thorough probe into the matter. Paswan is the Union Minister of Food Processing Industries. “An unsigned communication containing two mobile numbers was received in the ministry today. Upon opening the same, it was found to contain a direct threat to the life of the Union Minister for Food Processing Industries.

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“The threatening portion of the communication, excluding the mobile numbers mentioned therein, reads: ‘You will be killed shortly by hardcore terrorists’,” Alok Kumar Singh, Additional Private Secretary to Paswan, said in a letter to Home Secretary Govind Mohan.

According to the letter, the contents of the communication, particularly the direct nature of the threat and the reference to ‘hardcore terrorists’, are a matter of grave concern and give rise to serious apprehensions over the safety and security of the minister.

The minister’s office has requested the Home Ministry to look into this matter on an urgent basis. It has sought a “thorough investigation into the origin, authenticity and circumstances of the threatening communication”. “It is further requested that the security arrangements of the minister may be reviewed and suitably augmented, as considered necessary, in view of the threat perception and his scheduled public engagements,” Singh said in the letter. A copy of the letter has also been sent to the PS of the Union Home Minister and the Delhi Police Commissioner.