After the incident, Delhi Police increased security of JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar. (PTI file photo)
Police have arrested two persons in connection with a death threat to JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid, conveyed through a letter which was recovered with a loaded gun in a bus operating on a route between an ISBT and the varsity's campus.
"We have arrested two persons under provisions of Arms Act and charges of criminal intimidation and hatching a conspiracy. Efforts are on to nab the main accused," Additional DCP (New Delhi) Romil Baniya said today.
The two persons, arrested from Delhi after an operation which started yesterday night, have been identified as Sulabh and Saurabh. The two were produced before a court today, which sent them to two days police custody, he said.
Police said Saurabh is the younger brother of Uttar Pradesh Navnirman Sena chief Amit Jani, who is purported to have written the letter threatening to behead Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid.
Jani, who had threatened to kill Kanhaiya Kumar over a Facebook post earlier too, is believed to have written the threat letter which was found in the DTC bus on Thursday evening. Sulabh and Saurabh were the ones who allegedly put it in the bus along with a loaded gun.
Jani is believed to have gone underground since Friday and police are conducting raids in Delhi-NCR to nab him, an official said.
When the bus operating on Delhi Transport Corporations' (DTC) 605 route between Kashmere Gate ISBT and Vasant Vihar depot via JNU reached New Delhi area on Thursday evening, the driver spotted an unclaimed bag and raised an alarm.
The letter, threatening to behead Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid, along with a loaded country-made gun was recovered from the bag, following which a case was registered, the official said.
After the incident, Delhi Police increased security of Kanhaiya Kumar. He doesn't get security cover inside the campus but the university authorities have clearly been instructed to inform Vasant Kunj (North) police station every time he leaves the campus and security is provided accordingly.
The university students, who have been agitating ever since they were arrested in a sedition case over an event on campus, had also demanded that the JNU administration lodge a complaint against various individuals who have been issuing threats to Kanhaiya Kumar and others.