When dissident Bharatiya Janata Party leader Haren Pandya was shot on March 26, the Gujarat Government said Pandya was not perceived to be under any threat. But documents in possession of The Sunday Express reveal that the State Government had been told about the threat to Pandya’s life more than a month before his murder.After Pandya’s death, Home Secretary K. Nityanandam and Minister of State for Home Amit Shah reiterated that there was no perceived threat to Pandya’s life. But Pravin Joshi, personal assistant to Union Minister of State for Home, Harin Pathak, had received an eight-page letter dated February 10 from Abbas, a resident of Shah Alam, informing him about the threat faced by 11 state leaders, including Pandya. Joshi got the letter through post two days later. But the letter found its way to the Intelligence Bureau of the state, which handles such letters, only after five bullets had been pumped into Pandya on March 26. Pandya was the only person in the 11 who did not have security cover.Union Minister Pathak says Joshi gave him the letter on Feb 12 and he immediately contacted Gujarat Minister of State for Home Amit Shah. ‘‘I told him about the contents of the letter. He said he would arrange to have it collected from my PA. But it was collected only on the evening of March 26 (the day Pandya was killed) when I reminded (him) about the letter,’’ Pathak told The Sunday Express.Shah, when contacted, said: ‘‘Harin Pathak had called me up and told me about the letter. But I thought it was a threat to him only. Since he already had security and there was no need to upgrade it, I did not pay much attention. After the incident, Pathak gave me the letter and I passed it on to the officers concerned.’’When Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence) J. Mahapatra was asked about the letter, he said: ‘‘We received the letter only after the incident.’’ Sources said the letter was received by the IB on March 27, a day after the murder, and it was circulated within the state police top brass on March 28. Nityanandam, who had hours after Pandya’s killing said ‘‘there was no threat perception’’, denied knowledge of such a letter. ‘‘I am not in knowledge of having received a copy of such a letter before or after the incident,’’ he said. Even DGP K. Chakravarthy pleaded ignorance. He said: ‘‘It is the Intelligence Branch which deals with such letters. But I do not recall having been informed about any such letter.’’According to the letter, a few Dawood Ibrahim men had arrived in the city with ‘supari’ (contract) to kill leaders including Modi, former minister of state for home Gordhan Zadaphia, Haren Pandya, Harin Pathak, Law Minister Ashok Bhatt, his son Bhushan, MLA Bharat Barot, Education Minister Anandiben Patel, Khadia councilor Mayur Dave, VHP leader Jaideep Patel and Maya Kodnani. The letter said these persons would be targeted in retaliation to the post-Godhra killings. All except Pandya then had security cover, provided by the state government.The writer of the letter, who has not yet been traced, claimed he had more information and was willing to convey it to the state government, but he did not have faith in some officers and those in the Anti-Terrorist Squad. However, he would share his information with DIG Rakesh Asthana and SP Rahul Sharma if they were posted in the Anti-Terrorist Squad, he wrote.
