Mumbai: Crime Branch arrests a man for allegedly threatening to kill BJP MLA Ashish Shelar, his family members

Hours after BJP legislator Ashish Shelar complained to Maharashtra Home Minister and the Mumbai police commissioner about threatening calls from an unidentified caller, Mumbai Police arrested a 48-year-old man.

Osama Shamshad Khan, a resident of Mahim, was tracked down and held on the basis of technical inputs gathered during a probe by Unit IX of the Crime Branch after Shelar had approached police, an officer said. It emerged that the accused was frustrated over a land dispute in Bandra, due to which his son was facing an attempt to murder case, the officer added.

The accused was also upset over the fact that his son had been behind bars for two months, and he had called Shelar, the MLA from Bandra west, and threatened and abused him, he said.

Earlier, Shelar had submitted details of the two phone numbers from which he received the threatening calls and requested police to do the needful. In his letters to the state HM and city police chief, Shelar had said that the caller had abused him and threatened to kill him and his family members.

Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis said in Nagpur on Saturday that Shelar was vocal about ‘corruption’ in the (state) government. “Ashish Shelar often takes a stand against the government and expose corruption. This could be the reason behind him receiving the threat. Police should take this matter seriously,” he opined.

Published on: Saturday, January 08, 2022, 11:08 PM IST