PM Modi's Kerala visit: Cops arrest 53-year-old Kochi native for letter threatening suicide attack
KOCHI: Police on Sunday arrested a 53-year-old Kochi native, who wrote a letter warning of a suicide attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the city on Monday.
The arrested person has been identified as Xavier Anjanikal, who lives in a rented house on Fifth Cross Road, Kaloor-Kathrikadavu Road, and runs a catering firm in Kochi.
The accused wrote the letter in the name of N J Johny which was delivered to the BJP office last week. Johny and Xavier are members of the same parish, and Xavier had written an anonymous letter against Johny three years ago following some dispute in the parish council.
Kochi City Police Commissioner K Sethu Raman confirmed the arrest of Xavier. "We have checked the handwriting of the accused with the assistance of experts. It is confirmed that it was written by the same person who wrote the letter to the BJP office about the attack on Prime Minister in Kochi. There is nothing to panic about as the letter is confirmed as a hoax," he said.
The letter, written in Malayalam, was delivered to the BJP office last week. The party leaders then handed over the letter to the police. "After receiving the letter, we reached the house of Johny and recorded his statement. We confirmed that it was not Johny who wrote the letter by checking his handwriting. Johny then told us about a fake letter-related incident that took place following unrest between church parish councillors some three years back. He said that this fake letter dated three years ago was written by Xavier," a police official of Ernakulam North Police, which investigated the case, said.
READ HERE | Letter threatening attack on PM Modi keeps Kerala police on their toes
When the police checked the old fake letter with the current one, the handwriting was found to match. "We were closely following Xavier for the past week. We also managed to receive his handwriting specimen without making him aware of the case investigation. Thus he was taken into custody on Saturday night after registering an FIR. His arrest was recorded on Sunday. He would be produced before the court and the remand procedure would be completed soon," the police officer said.
Prime Minister Modi is scheduled for a two-day visit to Kerala starting on Monday, April 24.