On September 10, Nishant Kumar Azad, a journalist working with Nationalist weekly magazine Organiser received death threats from a US-based phone number. In the threat message, it was written that Nishant Azad would be beheaded if he continues to support the Hindutva ideology. He was threatened to stop spreading ‘propaganda’ against Islam otherwise ‘he will have to pay the price for it’.
There has been a First Information Report (FIR) filed. According to the FIR, at around 7:00 p.m. on September 10, a missed WhatsApp video, audio call, and message in Urdu and English were received from an unknown US-based number [+(701) 543-0549]. “Gustakh-e-nabi ki ek hi saza, sar tan se juda sar tan se juda” and “stop preaching agenda against Islam, you will pay for it (sic)” are among the messages. When the complainant questioned him about the identity of the sender, they said that they know everything about Nishant and that if he continued to write on such topics, he would face the consequences.
As per the FIR, the intimidator referred to Kanhaiyalal and Umesh Kolhe, he warned Nishant to stop writing in support of Hindu organisations or he will end up getting killed in the same way as Kanhaiyalal and Umesh Kolhe were beheaded.
Along with the threat message, the intimidator also shared the screenshot of one of Nishant Azad’s tweet in which the journalist had recently slammed Congress for posting an image of a ‘burning khaki uniform’ of RSS.
Organiser in its report says that the threat messages to its journalist Nishant Azad should be seen in the context of the recent killings of Hindus by Islamists.
On 22 June, Umesh Kolhe, a pharmacist from Amravati in Maharashtra was murdered by four Islamists for supporting suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma when she received death and rape threats from Islamists across countries for her remarks about the prophet Muhammad and Islam.
In Rajasthan’s Udaipur, Kanhaiyalal, a Hindu tailor was beheaded by Jihadis over his social media post backing Nupur Sharma. Two Jihadis, Ghous Mohammad and Mohammad Riyaz, on June 28, brutally murdered Kanhaiyalal in his shop. The two were arrested. This case is being investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
