Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait receives threatening call; FIR registered

Ghaziabad, Dec 26: An FIR was registered on Saturday on a complaint alleging that Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait, who has been participating in the agitation against the farm laws, received a death threat on his phone, a senior police officer said.

City Superintendent of Police (II) Gyanendra Singh said that Tikait's personal assistant Arjun Baliyan lodged the complaint that an unidentified caller had threatened to kill the farmer leader. The phone number mentioned in the complaint is under surveillance and efforts are on to identify the caller, he told PTI.

The call was received on Saturday evening. An FIR has been registered at Kaushambi police station under section 507 (criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the SP said.

Police force was already deployed in adequate strength at the Gazipur border protest site, the officer said.

The farmers associated with the BKU are protesting at Gazipur since November 28 to press for the repeal of the three new agri laws, joining thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, who are on a sit-in at other sites on the borders of the national capital.