Nagpur mayor shot at days after receiving threat letter

Later, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray announced in the Legislative Council that the probe in the matter has been handed over to the crime branch. A close confidant of Fadnavis, Joshi took charge as Nagpur mayor on November 24. The BJP leader reportedly received two threat letters earlier this month soon after he rolled out an anti-encroachment drive to decongest city footpaths.

“I received two letters, one on December 6 and the other on December 12, where I was threatened to be killed if I went ahead with the (anti-encroachment) drive,” Joshi told The Indian Express Wednesday. While the letter received on December 6 was dropped at the Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s (NMC) complaint box in Sadar area, the second letter was delivered by post at his residence on December 12, he said.

According to Joshi, he had celebrated his marriage anniversary party at a dhaba on the city’s outskirts and was driving home with a friend,

Aaditya Thakur, seated next to him in the car, around 12.05 am Wednesday when bike-borne assailants fired thrice at his SUV. “We were driving back to the city and my car was at the end (of the cavalcade) when three bullets were fired in less than a minute. Two bullets hit the right door of the car, while the one broke the rear windshield. Thankfully nobody was sitting on rear seat,” Joshi said.

He added, “It was quite dark outside, but I did sense a two-wheeler zooming past us.”

Joint Commissioner of Police Ravindra Kadam said police have obtained CCTV camera footage from near the NMC complaint dropbox at Sadar and the dhaba where Joshi had visited for dinner. “In the first footage, we have spotted a suspicious man who was seen dropping a letter (in the dropbox). We are trying to trace him,” Kadam said.

He added, “The threat letter, addressed to Joshi, says ‘bahot tej chal raha hai. Humara nuksan hoga to tera bhi nuksan hoga. Tu bal bachhe wala aadmi hai. (You are going very fast. If we suffer losses, you too will. You are a family man).”

Clarifying that his campaign was not against hawkers, Joshi said, “We are not targeting the poor hawkers. We are creating a hawkers’ zone for them… (However) there are hundreds of encroachers along the city’s footpaths, who we are determined to remove. These encroachers pay protection money of Rs 100 to Rs 150 per day to local dadas (goons), who earn up to Rs 3 lakh per month (by collecting the sum).

These goons have been badly affected by our drive.” The mayor alleged that these goons also grease the palms of local police to allow the encroachers to operate with impunity. Joshi ruled out any political rivalry behind the attack. “All parties unanimously supported the drive in a meeting on December 7,” he said.

The incident, Joshi added, has further “strengthen the resolve to go ahead with the anti-encroachment drive”.

Meanwhile, his supporters gheraoed Beltarodi police station Wednesday, demanding immediate arrest of the culprits. They left after assurance of speedy probe by the police. While no arrests were made till the time of going to press, the crime branch has formed five teams to trace the accused.