Udupi, May 26: Kundapur MLA Halady Srinivas Shetty has complained that he received a threat call from the underworld don Ravi Poojary on Monday.
The caller spoke to MLA in Tulu and demanded that latter pay him money. But the line was not clear. The sum of money demanded could not be heard clearly and the call got cut off. Then he received another call from the same person saying that as Mr. Shetty was an MLA, he would have a lot of money.
Mr. Shetty said: “I told him I have not taken money for fighting elections. I have not indulged in illegal activities nor do I have illegal money. I told him it was not right for him to call me. It is not possible for me to give him any money.”
But the caller said that he (Mr. Shetty) should keep the money ready and one of his henchmen would collect it. “But the amount or other details could not be heard clearly as it was a bad line. The caller told me to take a contact phone number. But I said I was in a marriage and could not do so,” Mr. Shetty said.
“The caller warned me that if the demand is not met, ‘we will finish you off’. Be prepared for the consequences,” Mr. Shetty quoted the caller as saying.
Immediately, he telephoned Superintendent of Police K. Annamalai and narrated the incident to him. “Soon, the Sub Inspector of Police from Shankarnarayana police station came to me and took down my complaint,” Mr. Shetty said.
Despite his protests, he had been assigned two police guards by the district police. “I told them I do not want any security. But they insisted that they would post two security guards for my protection,” Mr. Shetty said.
When contacted, Mr. Annamalai said: “I neither confirm nor deny the incident.”
Mr. Shetty is a popular politician in Udupi district. He started his political career with the Bharatiya Janata Party and has been elected four times from Kundapur.
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