Man booked for threatening, posting objectionable comments against UP minister for prisons

Lucknow: Police in Sitapur registered an FIR against a man accused of threatening Uttar Pradesh minister of state for prisons Suresh Rahi over the phone, demanding money and allegedly posting defamatory remarks about the minister on social media. The FIR was registered on Sunday, but the incident came to light on Monday evening.According to the complaint filed at Kotwali Dehat Police Station, Kuldeep Tiwari of Sitapur's Kasimpur village called the minister on March 13 around 12.15 pm. According to the complaint, the accused told the minister that if the call was not answered within 10 minutes, "something wrong could happen". When the minister asked what he meant, Tiwari allegedly replied that he wrote on Facebook questioning whether the minister should meet the same fate as a person named Rakesh Rathore. During the conversation, Tiwari allegedly complained about not having a cooking gas cylinder and demanded that the minister arrange one immediately. When the minister reportedly informed him that there were procedural issues in issuing cylinders without an OTP due to ongoing supply problems, the accused allegedly responded in a threatening tone, saying he would obtain the cylinder "from anywhere" and hinted at consequences for the minister. The complaint further alleged that Tiwari also posted abusive and defamatory comments about the minister on his Facebook account, which the complainant said damaged the minister's public reputation in the region. The FIR also mentioned an earlier incident on March 10, when Tiwari allegedly met the minister's associate, Lovkush Shukla, during the funeral of the father of senior journalist Neeraj Srivastava. During that meeting, Tiwari allegedly claimed to be a journalist and demanded Rs 20,000 per month from the minister through Shukla. When the demand was refused, he allegedly warned that it would not be "good for the minister" to deny the payment. Police sources said the accused has a criminal background and, in the past, was allegedly arrested after stolen motorcycles were recovered from his possession, for which he served jail time. Based on the written complaint submitted by the minister's office secretary, Suresh, police at Kotwali Dehat registered a case against Tiwari on charges of criminal intimidation, extortion attempt, and posting objectionable content on social media. Additional SP, Sitapur, Alok Kumar Singh, said a probe was conducted and the accused will be arrested.