Indore: A 69-year-old Sikh man has been arrested for allegedly sending a letter threatening blasts in Indore city if Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra halted at Khalsa stadium, police said on Friday.
Dayal Singh alias Daya Singh was arrested from a tea stall at Nagda in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain district on Thursday, an official said.
In his letter, he had also allegedly threatened to kill Rahul Gandhi and state Congress chief Kamal Nath while saying that no political party ever took up the issue of 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
Documents recovered from him disclosed that he was a resident of Ghosiyana locality in Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh, Juni Indore police station in-charge Yogesh Singh Tomar told PTI.
Additional Police Commissioner (Zone-4) Prashant Choubey told PTI that so far Singh has not been found to have any connection with Khalistani outfits, nor had he lost any relative in the 1984 riots.
But Singh, who lives like a nomad, does harbour anger about the riots that followed the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984, he added.
“Singh is a commerce graduateā¦.His wife died a long time ago. He has no children. To deal with loneliness, he started travelling. Being a Sikh, it is very easy for him to stay and have meals at gurdwaras in any part of the country,” Choubey said.
He had also allegedly threatened Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and some leaders in Madhya Pradesh earlier.
Inspector Tomar of Juni Indore police station said Singh was held after CCTV footage of several areas was checked.
The threat letter allegedly sent by Singh was received at a tea stall in Juni area on November 17.
The Khalsa stadium mentioned in the letter was in the news recently when kirtan singer Manpreet Singh Kanpuri referred to the anti-Sikh riots during an event on November 8, and slammed the organisers for felicitating Nath, who has faced allegations in connection with the 1984 violence.
Nath has repeatedly rejected allegations of his involvement in the anti-Sikh riots.
After the threat letter, the venue for the November 28 overnight halt of Bharat Jodo Yatra was changed, and now it will camp at Chimanbagh Maidan in the city.