Bengaluru/New Delhi: At least four journalists have filed complaints with Noida police after they received death threats and warning of similar fate like that of Gauri Lankesh on Whatsapp if they continued to criticise the Modi government, BJP and RSS.
One journalist even received a threat call over phone after being threatened regularly on social messaging platform WhatsApp for the past few weeks.
According to Delhi Police spokesperson Madhur Verma, the police had lodged three complaints and registered a First Information Report in connection with one of them. Superintendent of Police (Noida City) Arun Kumar Singh said that one complaint was being investigated by the force’s cyber cell. The police are yet to identify anyone in connection with these threats.
According to police, the threat messages sent on Whatsapp were virtually identical, referring to journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh who was brutally murdered by unidentified assailants on September 5. In the threat messages, they warned the journalists that if they criticised Modi government, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh they “will not be spared” and “will be removed”.
Though several other journalists in the Delhi-National Capital Region area have received similar threats, they have not yet approached the police.
A message received by a journalist, composed in Hindi, was sent to her via WhatsApp. It read:
“Why was Gauri Lankesh killed?
Gauri Lankesh was a journalist. She was killed in Bangalore by some Hindutva group. The question that arises is why would any Hindutva element kill a Hindu person.
Because Gauri used to write against the Modi government. Gauri used to write against RSS and BJP. Gauri was a traitor. She was anti-nationalist and anti-Hindu.
Now, if anyone in this country dares to write anything against Modi ji, RSS or BJP, that person will not be spared. The existence of such persons shall be removed along with the Muslims.”
