PM Modi Kerala visit: The Kerala Police and security agencies have launched a probe into a letter threatening to launch a suicide bomb attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his two-day visit to the state starting Monday to take part in various programmes including the flagging off Vande Bharat Express train.
The anonymous letter, raising the threat to the Prime Minister, was received by BJP state president K Surendran at the party office in Kerala. Surendran handed it over to the police last week. The letter was purportedly written in Malayalam by a person in Kochi.
After the death threat was received, nearly 2,000 police personnel have been deployed each in Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi cities. The news of the threat letter came out today after a report by ADGP (Intelligence) was telecast in the media.
The police traced down a person named N K Johny, whose name and number were there in the alleged threat letter, today said he was innocent. "Police have questioned me. I have given them all the details. They crosschecked the handwriting and everything," he told the media. His family said they suspect another person from the locality, who has some issues with them over some matter related to a church, behind the letter.
BJP state chief on threat letter
As the news was out, Surendran met the media and said he had handed over the threat letter a week ago to the state police chief. "Last week, President, BJP state committee, Kerala had received a letter written in Malayalam threatening the life of Hon. Prime Minister of India by using suicide bomber," the intelligence report read. The report also said the veracity of the letter and the person behind it were under investigation.
Surendran alleged that the "leak of the intelligence report" from the police was a grave mistake and it should be probed. The 49-page report gives details of the names of the officials on duty, their roles, the detailed programme chart of the Prime Minister among other matters.
Union Minister of State V Muraleedharan also slammed the alleged leak of the ADGP (Intelligence) report and said it was a serious matter. "The Chief Minister should explain how a report on the security detail of the Prime Minister was leaked and went viral on WhatsApp. This means the state home department is in shambles," Muraleedharan alleged.
PM Modi's Kerala visit
Prime Minister will flag off Kerala’s first Vande Bharat Express between Thiruvananthapuram and Kasargod at Thiruvananthapuram Central Station. The train will cover 11 Districts namely Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad, Pathanamthitta, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasargod.
Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone and dedicate various projects to the nation worth more than Rs. 3200 crores. Prime Minister will dedicate the Kochi water metro to the nation. This one of its kind projects connects 10 islands around Kochi through battery-operated electric hybrid boats for seamless connectivity with Kochi city. Apart from Kochi Water Metro, rail electrification of the Dindigul-Palani-Palakkad section will also be dedicated by the Prime Minister.
During the event, Prime Minister will also lay the foundation of various rail projects including the redevelopment of Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode and Varkala Sivagiri railway stations; the comprehensive development of Thiruvananthapuram area including Nemon and Kochuveli and the increasing of sectional speed of Thiruvananthapuram-Shoranur section.
Apart from this, Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone of the Digital Science Park in Thiruvananthapuram. Digital Science Park is envisaged as a key research facility to develop digital products and services by industry and business units in collaboration with academia. As a third generation Science Park, the Digital Science Park will house common facilities to support the development of products in the area of Industry 4.0 Technologies like AI, Data Analytics, Cyber Security, Smart Materials etc. The state-of-the-art basic infrastructure will support high-end applied research by industries and the co-development of products in association with the Universities. The initial investment for Phase-1 of the project is around Rs. 200 crore while the total project outlay has been estimated at around Rs.1515 Crore.
(With PTI inputs)
