Police register case over threat tweet to Anurag Kashyap

Mumbai: The Amboli police registered a case after movie director Anurag Kashyap received a threat message on Twitter in connection with a post that he had put out criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The troll used offensive language against Mr Kashyap and threatened to sexually assault his daughter, the police said.

Following the threat message, Mr Kashyap had tagged the Prime Minister in a message seeking to know to how to deal with such followers, stating that the profile name started with Chowkidar (chowkidar-ramsanghi), hinting towards the accused person’s affiliation with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“Dear @narendramodi sir. Congratulations on your victory and thank you for the message of inclusiveness. Sir please also tell us how do we deal with these followers of yours who celebrate your victory by threatening my daughter with messages like this for me being your dissenter,” Mr Kashyap tweeted a few days ago.

The case was filed against the unidentified person under sections 504, 509 of Indian Penal Code and 67 of Information Technology Act after Mr Kashyap gave a detailed statement to the police.

“A case has been filed against the person concerned and his whereabouts are being traced by the cyber wing with the help of the Internet Protocol address,” said an officer of Amboli police station.

Mr Kashyap later put out a message stating, “Anyways I want to thank @MumbaiPolice @MahaCyber1 @Brijeshbsingh for helping me with filing the FIR. Thank you so much for the amazing support and starting the process. Thank you @Dev_Fadnavis and thank you @narendramodi Sir. As a father I am more secure now.”

Mr Kashyap's initial tweet led to a war of words with Ashoke Pandit, president of the Indian Films and Television Directors Association, who claimed that the screenshots were photoshopped, done by an “urban naxal”.