BJP leader and former Shahdara MLA Jitender Singh Shunty. File | Photo Credit: SANDEEP SAXENA
Former BJP MLA Jitender Singh Shunty lodged a complaint with the Delhi Police on April 29 after he a received death threat allegedly from a Khalistani extremist.
According to the complaint filed by Mr. Shunty, a Padma Shri awardee, he recieved a WhatsApp call on April 29 in which the caller spoke in Punjabi and threatened to kill him and his son. “I received a call on WhatsApp during which the (anonymous) caller threatened to kill me and my son Sardar Jyoti Jeet,” he stated in a letter written to Shahdara Deputy Commissioner and Vivek Vihar SHO on Monday.
Speaking to ANI, Mr. Shunty said the caller spoke to him for about 35-40 seconds before hanging up. He claimed that the caller accused him and his son of speaking “a lot against Khalistan”.
“Yesterday, at 12.59 p.m., I received a WhatsApp call during which a Khalistan supporter based in Punjabi said: ‘You and your son speak a lot against Khalistan. Now your last time has arrived’. The person spoke for about 35 to 40 seconds before disconnecting the phone,” he said.
In his letter, Mr. Shunty claimed to be a target and ‘under constant threat’ from radical extremist organisations. “We are under apprehension of being attacked by pro-Khalistan extremists,” he mentioned in his letter.
He added that his son was a spokesperson of the BJP in Delhi and has been speaking against Khalistani extremism in television interviews as well as other platforms. “Recently, his video of holding a placard against Khalistan at Delhi’s Connaught Place went viral across the globe,” he added.
Mr. Shunty is the founder of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Sewa Dal and Shaheed-Ae-Azam Bhagat Singh Foundation. He joined the BJP in 2008 and won the Delhi assembly elections from Shahdara in 2013. He was conferred with the Padma Shri in 2021 for his philanthropic services during the Covid-19 pandemic. He dedicated the civilian honour to his fellow frontline workers.
