Man detained over SMS threat to Tharoor (Third Lead)

NEW DELHI - A west Delhi resident was detained Wednesday in connection with sending an SMS threat to Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor as well as an obscene SMS to Marxist leader Brinda Karat, an official said.

The city police later found that the dertained man’s ID was fraudulently used to procure a cell phone to send an SMS threat to Shashi Tharoor as well as an obscene SMS to Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Brinda Karat, the official said Wednesday night.

Manik Verma, a resident of Hari Nagar in west Delhi, was detained for sending a “filthy and obscene” SMS to Karat but a police official later said they found his ID was also used to send the threating message to Tharoor.

Earlier in the day, officials from the Tughlak Road police station went to the minister’s Lodhi Estate residence and spent about an hour there.

“We (came) to inquire SMS threats to the minister after seeing reports in the media,” a team member told reporters.

Delhi Police spokesman Rajan Bhagat told IANS that they had later received a complaint from Tharoor about the threat.

Jacob Joseph, officer on special duty with the minister, told reporters that Tharoor had received the SMS threat and the home ministry and police were alerted.

He did not reveal the SMS contents.

Tharoor is caught in a row with Indian Premier League (IPL) chief Lalit Modi after the latter accused him of telling him not to reveal the ownership pattern of the IPL Kochi franchise. Tharoor has denied the charge.