Threat letter to Odisha governor sends cops into tizzy

BHUBANESWAR: The commissionerate police were sent into tizzy after the Odisha governor S C Jamir here on Monday received a threat letter from an alleged CPI (Maoist) cadre, who asked him to relinquish his office within 15 days or face dire consequences.
Police sources said the Raj Bhawan here received the letter from Ravindra Verma and Mantu, in a sealed envelope by post from Giridih district in Jharkhand.Ravindra and Mantu identified themselves as cadres of the banned CPI (Maoist).
Police said they contacted their Jharkhand counterpart and came to know that similar threat letters were sent to the neighbouring state’s governor and some government officers recently by the same senders—Ravindra and Mantu.
Commissioner of police Y B Khurania admitted the Raj Bhawan received such a threat letter, but refused to elaborate on the content. “We took the letter seriously and are inquiring,” Khurania told TOI.
Police said it appears to be a mischief by the senders as contents in the letter are inaccurate from Odisha context. “Though Raj Bhawan is located in Bhubaneswar, the sender mentioned the address of neighbouring Cuttack. Since the letter was addressed to the governor, Odisha, it easily reached Raj Bhawan,” another police officer said.
The letter, written in Hindi, asked the governor to leave Odisha within a fortnight. “If you do not leave the state, we will blow up Raj Bhawan,” the letter said.
“We immediately contacted the Jharkhand police from where we learnt Ravindra and Mantu sent similar letters to that state’s governor and some block development officers recently. The Jharkhand police confirmed to us that no such Maoist cadres exist in the names of Ravindra and Mantu,” the officer said.