Manmohan Singh threatened on e-mail

Friday, October 27, 2006

The Kerala police have received an email threatening Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his trip to the state. Singh is scheduled to visit Kerala on November 1 to mark the Golden Jubilee of the state’s formation.

Three persons have been taken into custody by the Kerala police after an e-mail was received by the Prime Minister’s Office from a cyber cafe in Kochi. This includes two boys who were using the cyber cafe between 9 and 9.30 on Friday morning and the woman owner of the cafe.

Top police sources said the message was sent to Director General of Police Raman Srivastava and the Home Secretary Sri Prakash Jaiswal. Taking serious note of the e-mail, Kerala police are interrogating the accused persons suspecting they had played a prank.

After this incident, the authorities are on high alert. This threat can have serious connotations considering the arrest of 2 Al-badr militants from down south.

Sources said, according to a senior official of Prime minister’s office, “As of now there is no change in the prime minister’s trip but his security is being constantly under review and a decision could be taken keeping in the mind threat perception”.