Belagavi: Jayesh Poojary, an inmate of Hindalaga Jail in Belagavi, who had made a threatening call to Union Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, is suspected to be in contact with terrorist Afsar Pasha. Jayesh Poojary was in Belagavi Jail along with Pasha when he made the threatening call to Gadkari.
The investigation has been intensified as to whether this was a threat made by terrorists. Therefore, a team of Nagpura police came to Karnataka on July 14 to arrest Pasha, an official said.
Regarding the case of threatening to kill Union Minister Gadkari, the Nagpur ATS Police of Maharashtra visited Belagavi Hindalaga Central Jail on July 12 and collected information. A prisoner named Jayesh from Mangalore, who was detained in Hindalaga Central Jail, made a call to Union Minister Nitin Gadkari’s office in Nagpura, Maharashtra while staying in jail. He called on January 14 last and demanded Rs. 100 Crore. He threatened to explode a bomb if the money was not paid. Maharashtra Police conducted a quick operation on this and confirmed that the call came from Belagavi Hindalaga Central Jail.
However, before this incident, Jayesh Kanta alias Jayesh Poojary again called the landline of Nitin Gadkari’s public relations office in Nagpura and demanded Rs. 10 Crore for the second time on January 21. The Maharashtra Police, alerted by the incident, had provided tight security at Gadkari’s office in Nagpura. Later, the Nagpura Police took Jayesh into custody from Hindalaga Jail on March 28 for further questioning after the ATS Police conducted an investigation into where the life threat call came from.
Now, the Maharashtra Police has visited the Hindalaga Jail where Jayesh is staying and inspected it in view of the fact that the chargesheet has to be submitted to the court. After that, they have returned to Nagpura, Maharashtra on getting necessary information about him from the staff there and other prisoners who are in contact with him.
Jayesh was in contact with the Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist organisation of Jammu-Kashmir during the investigation of the case of threatening Gadkari and the Nagpura Police said that they are investigating the connection of Poojary with the arrested criminal Pasha. Pasha was also involved in the 2005 terrorist attack on the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru.