The individual who has written at least 21 threat letters to over seven writers, Opposition leaders Siddaramaiah, B.K. Hariprasad, and H.D. Kumaraswamy since March 2022 is still at large.
Following outrage over no action by the State police, Home Minister Araga Jnanendra appointed K. Santosh Babu, SP, Ramanagaram, as nodal officer for the cases registered across the State in June. However, two months later, the police are yet to catch the letter writer. “We have some leads on the person, though we do not know his identity. We will catch him soon,” a senior police officer said.
With two writers — M.M. Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh — killed in the State, the police recovering a hitlist of nine writers from their killers, death threat letters being posted to their residences and the man still at large, it has had a chilling effect on the litterateur community. “There is immense pressure from family and friends on most of us — vocal writers — to not make any public statements and essentially to withdraw. Some of us have succumbed to it and some of us continue to speak out. But there is also an element of self-censorship that has crept in among some writers. Many have withdrawn from the public sphere,” said senior writer S.G. Siddaramaiah.
