The Mumbai unit of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has arrested a Kolkata man for allegedly making threat calls to Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut. According to sources, Raut was threatened over a video call and asked not to initiate action or pursue the matter of Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut or face consequences. The actor is currently locked in a battle with the Maharashtra government, after her tweets against Mumbai and its police force.
According to police sources, acting on a tip-off and based on technical evidence, a team from Mumbai ATS reached Kolkata on Thursday and arrested Palash Bose, a gym instructor who is in his late 20s, from his hometown in Tollygunge in south Kolkata late on the same day. An official said Bose was traced on the basis of the Internet Protocol (IP) address used to make the video call.
Bose reportedly called Sena MP Sanjay Raut and Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's office, using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), claiming to be an associate of the Dawood Ibrahim gang and warning Raut and Thackeray of dire consequences if they did not stop interfering in the Kangana Ranaut matter, a primary probe has revealed. However, sources reveal that neither is Bose associated with or has any direct link to the actor, nor is he a fan of hers.
Bose was arrested by the Mumbai ATS on Thursday night for criminal intimidation and two international SIM cards, one local SIM card and two mobile phones were seized from him after a sweep of his residence. He was later produced in a local magistrate court in Kolkata, where the Mumbai ATS were given his transit remand for further probe in the matter.
The Shiv Sena and the actor were engaged in a war of words after the latter recently likened Mumbai to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and said she feared Mumbai Police more than the 'movie mafia'.
