A man who sent a bomb threat to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has been arrested from Karnataka. On Thursday (14th February), the accused identified as Sonu Paswan was brought to Patna. The accused is reported to be a native of Bihar’s Samastipur, working in a factory in Karnataka’s Dawangere district.
On 30th January, accused Sonu had sent a WhatsApp message and an audio clip to Bihar Director General of Police RS Bhatti. In the message, Sonu was threatening to blow up Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and other MLAs with a bomb if he does not sever ties with the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). The message sent by the accused read: “Nitish Kumar ko kahiye BJP se hat jayein nahin to bam se uda denge, unke Vidhayak ko bhi maarenge. Jaise UP mein hua tha.” Following this, the state Economic Offenses Unit (EOU) initiated an investigation into the matter.
The EOU tracked the phone number with which the threatening message was sent. The location of the number was traced in Karnataka’s Davangere. Subsequently, the police conducted raids in the identified location and nabbed the accused with the help of Karnataka Police.
During interrogation, the accused claimed that the Bihar government is to blame for the state’s rising unemployment and poverty rates. His family lives in the Dayanagar area of Hasanpur, Samastipur. Sonu stated that even after sending so many clips, it had no impact in Bihar, therefore he was planning to give all of the clips to some media outlet, but was apprehended before he could do so. The accused was angered by Nitish Kumar’s decision to break the alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and join hands with the BJP. Reports say that the accused claimed that he is not associated with any political party.
Last month, Nitish Kumar snapped ties with the “Mahagathbandhan” and took oath as Chief Minister of Bihar for the ninth time as he returned to the NDA fold.
