Threat to MLAs: Police in touch with intelligence agencies, says UP DGP

The Uttar Pradesh Police is in contact with different intelligence agencies in connection with a number of MLAs receiving threatening messages, and the matter would be worked out soon, DGP O P Singh said today.

Over 22 state legislators, most of them from the ruling BJP, have got texts or WhatsApp messages, asking them to pay Rs 10 lakh or their families will be eliminated.

"The state police is in contact with different intelligence agencies, besides the Intelligence Bureau, and work is in progress in this regard... The case will be worked out soon," the Uttar Pradesh director general of police (DGP) told reporters in Bareilly.

"There is no need to panic... It (threat call) is not just to the state's MLAs, but also to eminent personalities elsewhere, who are not public representatives. They, too, are getting such messages," Singh said.

The state police has issued an advisory, asking people not to be scared. The issue could be the handiwork of "professional hackers", who are using a proxy server to create panic, it said.

Yesterday, DIG (Law and Order) Pravin Kumar had said, "A detailed inquiry has already started and state authorities are in touch with central agencies for assistance."
The opposition has attacked the Adityanath government over the messages, with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav claiming, "No one is secure in the present regime. The MLAs are being threatened of dire consequences. There is no law and order in the state."