Patna, Nov 2 (IANS): Purnea Police in Bihar arrested Mahesh Pandey, a man accused of threatening independent Lok Sabha MP Pappu Yadav posing as a member of the gangster Lawrence Bishnoi on Saturday.
Kartikeya Sharma, the Superintendent of Police (SP) of Purnea, confirmed the arrest, clarifying that the accused has no connections with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang but had previous associations with some of Yadav’s aides.
“Mahesh Pandey, a resident of Delhi, was apprehended in East Delhi, and police seized two mobile phones and SIM cards from him. One of the SIM cards had a Dubai number, which was used to make the threatening WhatsApp call to Yadav,” Sharma said.
He said that the investigation is ongoing to uncover further details, and the authorities are examining the motives and any potential accomplices associated with the incident.
“Following a formal complaint from Pappu Yadav, we had put the Dubai-based number used to put the threat under surveillance, eventually tracing its location to Delhi. Yadav had identified the number,” Sharma said.
He added that after investigation, it was revealed that Pandey had access to the Dubai number through a relative (his sister-in-law) in Dubai, which he likely obtained during a visit there.
“When Yadav did not answer the initial calls, Pandey reportedly sent a message with an image of Lawrence Bishnoi to intimidate him,” Sharma said.
During questioning, Pandey disclosed that he previously worked at AIIMS in Delhi and in an army canteen, though he has no known connections to the Bishnoi gang and only used the gang’s name to issue the threat.
Sharma also confirmed that Pandey had past associations with some of Yadav’s close associates, which may have factored into the motive behind the threat.
Additionally, SP Kartikeya Sharma mentioned that Yadav had received threatening calls from other numbers as well, and these numbers are currently under investigation.
“The police are working to determine if there are any further connections or motives related to these threats,” he said.
After the killing of NCP (Ajit Pawar) leader Baba Siddiqui in Mumbai, Pappu Yadav uploaded a post on social media, saying that if the laws allow him, he would finish the network of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi in 24 hours.
Following his post, he received multiple threatening calls and messages while the office of Pappu Yadav shared evidence supporting the threats he received, including seven voice-recorded calls, four screenshots of WhatsApp call logs with pictures of Lawrence Bishnoi, and a press statement by Mayank Singh who is also said to be a member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.
The caller also said that Lawrence Bishnoi called Pappu Yadav after getting the jammer of Sabarmati Jail Ahmedabad switched off for 10 minutes but he did not pick up the phone.
However, after the threatening calls, Pappu Yadav said that whether they intend to kill actor Salman Khan or anyone else, is not his concern and is ultimately the responsibility of the government to address the issue.
In a Facebook live session on Friday, Yadav expressed his frustrations, underscoring that the issue was not about Hindu-Muslim conflicts and reiterating that he has no involvement with anyone’s personal matters, including any potential threats to Salman Khan.