Kalaburagi: BJP leader Manikanth Rathod was on Sunday booked by the Kalaburagi Police for issuing threats to Congress MLA Priyank Kharge who is also the son of INC President Mallikarjun Kharge.

A case against Rathod has been booked at the Brahmapur Police Station in the district following complaints from the Congress workers after Rathod had said that he was ready to shoot Priyank.

Rathod has been booked under section 506 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) (Punishment for criminal intimidation).

“If you [Priyank] shoot us, we are also ready to shoot you,” Rathod had said in a press conference on Friday.

The Congress leaders had submitted a memorandum to Kalaburagi Superintend of Police and urged to file a complaint against Rathod.

The controversy erupted on November 8 after the BJP workers at Chittapur town put up missing posters of Mr. Kharge across the town, when the leader was participating in Bharat Jodo Yatra.

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Mumbai/Raipur, Nov 7: The Mumbai police have registered an extortion case and summoned a lawyer from Chhattisgarh in connection with a death threat to Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan and a demand for Rs 50 lakh, officials said on Thursday.

The lawyer from Raipur has been summoned as the threat call was made from a phone number registered in his name, a senior police official from the Chhattisgarh capital said. The lawyer told the police that he lost his phone last week and had filed a police complaint, the official said.

The threat to Shah Rukh Khan follows a series of threats issued to fellow actor Salman Khan, allegedly from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.

“The Bandra police station received a call threatening Shah Rukh Khan and asking for Rs 50 lakh. An offence has been registered. No arrest has been made yet,” a senior Mumbai police official said.

A case has been registered by the Bandra police under sections 308(4) (extortion involving threats of death or serious injury) and 351(3)(4) (criminal intimidation) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against the caller who threatened Shah Rukh Khan, the official said.

Police teams have been dispatched to various places for further investigation, he said.

While there was no confirmation from Mumbai police on reports that the call was made from Chhattisgarh, a Raipur police official said their counterparts from the Maharashtra capital on Thursday served a notice to a man from the city in connection with it.

As part of their investigation into the threat to Shah Rukh Khan, Mumbai police visited Raipur and summoned a lawyer, identified as Faizan Khan, who lives within the limits of Pandri police station here, Raipur Senior Superintendent of Police Santosh Singh told PTI.

Police had earlier identified the man as Faiyaz Khan.

As per preliminary information, the threat call to the actor was made from a phone number registered in the name of Faizan, he said.

Faizan has been asked to appear for questioning at Bandra police station, Singh said.

A Mumbai police team arrived at Pandri police station in the morning and informed the officials about the case following which Faizan was called for questioning, City Superintendent of Police (CSP- Civil Lines) Ajay Kumar told PTI.

Faizan told the cops that he had lost his phone last week and lodged a complaint at Khamardih police station here, he said. Mumbai police have served a notice to Faizan and summoned him for further questioning, the official added.

Later, talking to reporters in Raipur, Faizan claimed that his phone was stolen and termed the threat call made from his number a conspiracy against him.

“My phone was stolen on November 2 and I lodged a complaint. I told Mumbai police about it. They interrogated me for about two hours,” he said.

He, however, said he had earlier complained to Mumbai police against Shah Rukh Khan over a dialogue in his movie ‘Anjaam’ (1994) referring to deer hunting.

“I hail from Rajasthan. The Bishnoi community (which is from Rajasthan) is my friend. It is in their religion to protect deer. So, if a Muslim says something like this about deer, it is condemnable. Therefore, I raised an objection,” he said.

Faizan added, “Whoever has made a call from my phone, it seems intentional. I think it is a conspiracy against me.”