French Consulate in Bengaluru receives threat letter, warns against Prez visit

Bengaluru: The French Consulate in Bengaluru has received an anonymous letter allegedly threat French President François Hollande from visiting India on Republic Day. Though the letter is being viewed as “hoax” by police and Intelligence agencies, it has reportedly escalated the heightened security threat to the VVIP, who is allegedly on the top of the hit list of Islamic jehadists, especially Daesh.

“The French Consulate on January 11 received an anonymous three-lined letter from Chennai by post. The unsigned letter states that the French President should not visit India on the Republic Day. It is written in broken English and sentences are not well structured,” said Additional Commissioner of Police (West) K.S.R. Charan Reddy.

"The sender’s address on the letter has been verified and found to be non existent. We have registered a case against an unknown person under Section 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at High Grounds police station," he added.

Though the City police remained tight lipped about any further information on the letter, Intelligence sources told this newspaper that the letter was posted by an unknown person from Triplicane area in Chennai.

“It was posted from Triplicane area in Chennai but the address is wrong. The letter begins with salutations to Allah and contains the map of India and the warning,” said an officer on condition of anonymity.

Bengaluru police have shared the letter with Chennai police and the Intelligence Bureau (IB).

Mr. Hollande will be the chief guest at this year’s Republic Day parade. New Delhi has turned into a fortress and has heightened the security alert for a possible lone wolf attack.