Bihar professor gets 'jihadi' threat

Darbhanga, Nov 24 (PTI) A professor in this north Bihar town on Thursday approached the police with a complaint that he has received a letter threatening that “jihadis” will behead him.

Prem Mohan Mishra, who heads the Chemistry department in the Lalit Narayan Mithila University here, submitted his complaint before the police station concerned and sent its copies to the district police chief and the varsity's Vice-Chancellor and pro-VC.

"An FIR has been lodged on the basis of the professor's complaint. The letter was sent by speed post. We are trying to track down the sender", said Amit Kumar, Sub Divisional Police Officer, Sadar, Darbhanga.

The sender has signed off as Alam Parvez and given his address as Kila Ghat area in the town.

The letter, written in Hindi, is scribbled on a sheet of paper that seems culled out of a school-level exercise book.

The sender seems to have a grouse against a lab technician in Mishra's department whom he has accused of abusing an unnamed "Muslim's daughter".

Mishra has been asked to transfer the technician away from the city failing which "jihadis" would decapitate (‘sar tan se juda’) him.

The SDPO said "as a precautionary measure we have provided police protection to the professor. The letter is incoherent, with mention of many incidents that took place in the 1990s and people who are no longer in service. Though any serious political angle seems unlikely in the case, we are probing the matter from all possible angles".

Meanwhile, Bihar BJP spokesperson Nikhil Anand issued a statement recounting acts of violence in Rajasthan and Maharashtra where those accused of insulting the Prophet were attacked.

He also demanded a crackdown against "jihadi elements" by the Nitish Kumar government. PTI CORR NAC MM MM