The husband of a woman plaintiff in the Gyanvapi disputed structure case has lodged an FIR with Varanasi Police saying he received death threats from Pakistan. The victim Sohan Lal Arya is the husband of Laxmi Devi, one of the five women who are fighting for their right to worship at Gyanvapi.
Arya said in his complaint that he has been receiving ‘sar tan se juda’ threats since March, and the last threat call was received on July 20 from an unidentified caller using a Pakistani number. The caller was forcing the victim to take back the case. Station Officer (SO) Luxa, Anil Sahu, said in a statement that an FIR had been registered against an unidentified person(s) for issuing death threats to Sohan Lal Arya.
In a statement, Arya said, “The caller is threatening me with the slogan ‘sar tan se juda’ like the one Kanhaiya Lal got. The caller is issuing threats of dire consequences to pressurize us for withdrawing the case.” Hindu tailor Kanhaiya Lal was beheaded by the Islamists in Udaipur, Rajasthan, for allegedly publishing a post supporting former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma.
He received calls from 2306812337 and 923254713522. Arya said his wife uses his phone. As per Jagran’s report, Arya also said that he had noticed the movement of suspicious people around his house, and he felt they were doing receive. Following the complaint, two Police personnel were stationed outside Arya’s house.
He said, “They threatened us to take back the case. We replied that their threats wouldn’t scare us. August 18 is the next date in the case, and the judgment will be in favour of Hindus.” He further alleged some terrorist organizations were behind the threats. Arya served as VHP vice president in 1984 and was also associated with RSS.
Arya, while speaking to reporters, said that he was not afraid of the death threats. “It is our good fortune that we are fighting the case in court. I am not scared of death threats. We are under the protection of Bhole Baba.”
Arya said the first call came on March 19, and the last one was received on July 20. He added, “Laxmi Devi noticed a missed call on August 3 in the call list.” As the death threats continued, he decided to file a complaint in the matter with the commissioner of police and district magistrate.
The next day of hearing in the Gyanvapi disputed structure case on the maintainability of the case was set for August 18.
