BENGALURU: Police have by now arrested two persons in connection with issuing threats to Karnataka Chief Justice over the verdict delivered by a bench headed by him on March 15 upholding the ban on hijab.
Vidhana Soudha police on Friday sought the body warrant of one of the suspects Zamaal Mohammad Usmani, (44). A senior police officer said that based on information gathered from Rahmatullah, who was arrested earlier, Usmani was nabbed from Thanjavur and he was in the custody of Tamil Nadu police.
"We have taken him under our custody for eight days for interrogation," the officer said.
Rahmatullah and Usmani are office-bearers of the Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamath (TNTJ). They were arrested after multiple complaints cropped up against them after a video of them allegedly threatening Karnataka chief justice went viral. The police suspect Usmani might have shared the threat message to the group on social media and among the TNTJ members.
It may be recalled that Vidhana Soudha police had registered an FIR against Rahmatullah, a resident of Coimbatore after the video went viral on social media and local news channels.
The full bench of the Karnataka High Court headed by the chief justice delivered the verdict upholding the hijab ban last Tuesday. Following this, security for the judge has been reviewed and heightened following a threat perception. Based on the complaint lodged by advocate Sudha Katwa, quoting a video clip, the police had booked the suspects under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections relating to criminal intimidation, creating enmity between two groups, and also for breaching public peace.
Rahmatullah reportedly delivered a speech at a rally on March 17 wherein he made an open threat in Tamil that if judges get killed over the hijab case verdict, then, they will themselves be responsible for their death.