Priest arrested for making threat calls to Karnataka Sahitya Academy

Bengaluru: A man working as a hostel warden and priest has been arrested at Hubballi in north Karnataka for allegedly making threat calls to Karnataka Sahitya Academy for choosing rationalist free-thinker and writer KS Bhagwan for annual Honorary Awards for Lifetime Achievement for 2013.

The arrested person was tracked down yesterday through the mobile phone used by him, police said today.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Bengaluru Central) Sandeep Patil said that the person was produced before the court and is now under judicial custody.

Following the announcement of the award, which will be presented to Bhagwan and others on November 7 in Dharwad, Sahitya Academy had complained about receiving a threatening call.

Academy officials had also said they had received several

abusive calls for choosing Bhagwan for the award, following which police had provided security to the literary body.

Recently a letter threatening Bhagwan was delivered to his residence at Mysuru, which came close on the heels of the murder of another noted Kannada progressive thinker and scholar MM Kalburgi in Dharwad.

Bhagwan has incurred the wrath of right-wing activists after he allegedly disparaged the Bhagavad Gita while speaking at a programme in Mysuru in February this year.

Earlier, a Bajrang Dal local activist was arrested in Dakshina Kannada district, a day after Kalburgi was gunned down on August 30, for allegedly posting remarks on Twitter threatening Bhagwan for his derogatory remarks on the Bhagavad Gita.