A day after a death threat to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was reported, Crime Branch ADG Santosh Upadhyay on Tuesday said the case is being jointly probed by the Odisha and Chhattisgarh police.
Briefing mediapersons, Upadhyay said, “The letter has already been verified. We are in touch with the Chhattisgarh police and a joint probe is underway in connection with the incident.”
He further said that the mental condition of the prisoner lodged at the Bilaspur Central Jail in Chhattisgarh, who is accused of sending the death threat letter to the Chief Minister, would be examined.
Sources said that the jail inmate, who is involved 40 criminal cases, has already confessed to have sent the letter to draw public attention. Through the letter, the sender identified as one Pushpendra Nath Chouhan demanded a ransom of Rs 50 crore from the Chief Minister.
Chouhan threatened in the letter that he would eliminate Patnaik and his top bureaucrats if the ransom was not paid. Interestingly, the criminal had mentioned the jail as the address at which the ransom amount was to be delivered.
The letter was sent through post and received on August 25 by the Odisha police, who in their turn informed their Bilaspur counterparts on Sunday.
The Bilaspur police initiated an investigation and identified Chouhan as the sender of the letter. Booked in 42 cases of dacoity and murder, Chouhan is currently serving life imprisonment after conviction in two cases. As per preliminary investigation, Chouhan has been found to be mentally unstable.