Threat calls to CM, Pawar & Raut: Gym instructor had detailed information about his targets; sent to three-day ATS custody

In his calls, Palash Bose had also claimed to be a member of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s gang and the police are verifying if he actually had a connection with the gang or was just trying to scare his targets.

The Kolkata man arrested by Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) for making threat calls to Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and NCP chief Sharad Pawar, had detailed information about these leaders, including where they lived, family members and their addresses, on his computer, the police said.

Palash Bose, a gym instructor, allegedly made the threat calls asking the politicians to “stay away from the Sushant Singh Rajput case”.

The police presented him for remand on Sunday before a holiday court in Mumbai, which sent him to the custody of ATS Juhu unit for three days. Officers said they are going to interrogate Bose to find out about the nature of the threats he made.

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“While going through Bose’s emails, we found details about Sanjay Raut’s family members he had collected. He had also looked for detailed information about the CM’s residence Matoshree, like its entrance,” an officer claimed.

Hence, the ATS sought his custody to find out if the calls he made were just meant to be empty threats or whether “he had some plans to act on them”, the officer added.

In his calls, Bose had also claimed to be a member of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s gang and the police are verifying if he actually had a connection with the gang or was just trying to scare his targets.

While seeking Bose’s remand, the ATS told the magistrate that it was checking if he actually belonged to Dawood’s gang, whether he was involved in any terror-related activities for the time period of 15 years when he was in Dubai.

The agency further told the court that it has found three Dubai-based SIM cards at Bose’s residence and is trying to verify if he used them for any criminal activities. Further, it was looking into if Bose had any criminal records and also all the places he had travelled to in the past.

An FIR was registered last week after Raut complained of having received threat calls from a person, claiming to be Ibrahim’s henchman, asking the Maharashtra government to stay away from the Rajput death case. Later, it came to light that Uddhav and Pawar, too, had received similar calls.

Following this, the ATS began a parallel probe in the matter. It tracked down the accused to Kolkata, where he was arrested on Friday and brought to Mumbai on transit remand on Sunday.