Tumakuru farmer arrested for sending threat letter to city magistrate

He implicated his brother-in-law to take over his wife and sister-in-law’s property

Police stepped up checking of vehicles and visitors after finding the letter.

It was a farmer from Tiptur in Tumakuru district who allegedly sent a threatening letter and detonator-like substance to a magistrate of the Special NDPS court and city court on Monday, warning that he would carry out attacks if the accused in the high-profile drug racket case were not released.

Less than a day after the package was sent, the Halasurugate police on Tuesday arrested 53-year-old Rajashekhar who reportedly orchestrated the hoax in an attempt to implicate his brother-in-law.

According to the police, Rajashekhar who was married to a woman from Tumakuru was also eyeing his wife’s sister so that he could take over her share of the family’s property. The two sisters jointly owned 15 acres of land. “He confessed that he wanted his wife’s sister, and decided to get her husband, Ramesh, out of the picture by having him arrested. He also feuded with Ramesh’s brother,” said a senior police officer.

Rajashekhar started harassing his sister-in-law before she got married, following which her father filed a sexual harassment case with the local police who arrested him. “The sister-in-law later married Ramesh, but the accused continued to harass the family,” the police officer added.

Rajashekhar decided to implicate Ramesh and his brother in a criminal case, but failed repeatedly. “When the Central Crime Branch police arrested actors and other high profile people in the drug racket case, he hit upon the idea of sending a threatening letter with their identity cards,” said the police.

Rajashekhar allegedly bribed village panchayat officials in Chelur where Ramesh lived and paid them ₹300 to get copies of voter ID cards of Ramesh and his brother. He then wrote the letter and posted it along with the voter ID photocopies.

The police formed a special team which went to Chelur and detained Ramesh for questioning. “However, after questioning him, we realised that Ramesh had nothing to do with the threatening letter,” said Assistant Commissioner of Police Najma Farooqi, who headed the team.

The police learned of the family feud and Rajashekhar’s previous attempts to have the brothers arrested. The police team went to Tiptur and caught Rajashekhar in the nick of time while he was planning to escape.

Ongoing investigations have revealed that Rajashekhar was involved in other several criminal cases and had been arrested by the police earlier, not just for sexually harassing his sister-in-law but also for setting fire to a church over a property dispute, stealing copper wire and beating up a waterman in Tiptur.