The Faizabad police have arrested a disciple of Ram Janambhoomi Nyas president Mahant Nritya Gopal Das for allegedly writing a letter, purportedly with the Mahant’s knowledge, threatening the latter.According to sources, Santish Jaiswal, a resident of Hardwar, told the police that he wrote the letter because the Mahant was not given Z-category security as enjoyed by VHP leaders like Ashok Singhal and Praveen Togadia. He also told police that he did it with the consent of Mahant Das. The Mahant already enjoys X-category security.Police said that on November 23, a day before the serial blasts in court premises, Mahant Das received a post card posted from Hardwar saying, “accept Islam with all your followers or be ready for the death. al-Qaeda”. The postcard was written in Hindi. This postcard created panic in the district administration and the police increased Mahant’s security. SP G N Khanna told The Indian Express that a team was sent to Hardwar to investigate this case. He said that Jaiswal has accepted that he had sent the post card to the Mahant. According to sources, Jaiswal was a regular visitor to the temple town and always stayed with the Mahant. Mahant Das was not available for comment. Jaiswal is still in police custody. An intelligence officer said that Jaiswal is suspected to have links with some extremist outfit.
