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Kochi man held for death threat to PM

The arrested person has been identified as Xavier Anjanikal, who lives at Kaloor in Kochi.

Kochi man held for death threat to PM

[Representational Photo : iStock]

The Kerala Police on Sunday arrested a 53-year-old Kochi native, who wrote a letter warning of a suicide attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Kochi on Monday.

Kochi Police Commissioner K Sethu Raman on Sunday said police have arrested one person for allegedly sending the letter.

The arrested person has been identified as Xavier Anjanikal, who lives  at Kaloor in Kochi.The Police Commissioner said the accused wrote the letter in the name of NJ Johny, his neighbour to trap  him.

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The letter, written in Malayalam, was delivered to the BJP office last week. The party leaders then handed over the letter to the police

Police said that Johny and Xavier are members of the same parish and Xavier had written a fake letter three years ago following some dispute in the parish council.

When the police checked the old fake letter with the current one, the handwriting was found to match. The police have been following Xavier for the past week. They managed to receive his handwriting specimen without making him aware of the case investigation.

They checked the handwriting of the accused in the fake letter with that of the letter sent to the BJP office, threatening  to attack PM Modi  and confirmed  that  both the  letters were written by Xavier. Then  he was taken into custody on Saturday night after registering an FIR. His arrest was recorded on Sunday.

The Kochi Police Commissioner said that tight security has been arranged ahead of the Prime Minister’s visit to the state. A total of 2,060 police personnel were deployed to oversee security arrangements.

“Tight security has been arranged for the Prime Minister’s visit to Kochi. 2060 policemen have been deployed. As part of this, traffic control has also been imposed from 2 pm,” he said

PM Modi will arrive in Kochi  at the naval air station INS Garuda at 5 pm on Monday .BJP will organise a mega road show in Kochi to welcome the PM. The Prime Minister also take part in the road show.

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