Purnea MP Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav allegedly received death threats from gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s gang and other outlaws on Monday, following which he wrote to Union home minister Amit Shah to apprise him about it and demand Z category security.

The six-time Lok Sabha member has currently Y category security in which eight to 11 security personnel, including one or two commandos, are present. Z category has around 22 personnel, including four to six commandos. The ministry of home affairs allots the security cover as per threat perception and assessment by intelligence agencies.

A WhatsApp call came to the Purnea MP at 9:25am on Monday in which the person on the other end threatened him with dire consequences and asked him not to meddle in the affairs of Lawrence, currently kept in the Sabarmati Jail in Gujarat.

The number from which the call was made, identified the caller as one Ajju Lawrence.

Earlier, a Malaysia-based gangster Mayank Singh had posted on a social media platform on Saturday (October 26) asking Pappu to “shut up and focus on politics instead of saying nasty things about Lawrence trying to gather publicity, else he would be made to rest in peace”.

An unnerved Pappu, who is a sixth time MP wrote to Shah, asking him to take cognizance of the threat by the Lawrence gang and increase his security.

“The Lawrence Bishnoi gang is continuously committing one incident after another in the present times. I opposed it because I am a political person following which the chief of the Lawrence gang threatened on my mobile to kill me,” Pappu wrote to the home minister.

“I am attaching a copy of the conversation. The Bihar home department and the Union home ministry are inactive towards my security despite such a big threat. It seems they will become active only after my murder to offer condolence at the Lok Sabha and the state legislative Assembly… I request you to increase my security cover from Y category to Z category,” Pappu added in the
missive.

The muscleman-turned--MP, who won as an Independent, also sought strict security arrangements at all his political programmes and police escorts in all districts of Bihar while travelling.

“I may be murdered if these steps are not undertaken,” Pappu added in the letter to Shah.

The Purnea MP said that he also talked to Bihar director general of police Alok
Raj about the threats and the latter asked him to talk to Purnea inspector general Rakesh Rathi.

Later in the day, Pappu held a press conference to brief media persons but lost his cool when asked questions about the threat calls.

“I had asked all of you beforehand not to ask questions about this. Do not act over-smart. I will not talk about this,” Pappu said.

Prima facie, the threats seemed to be a reaction to Pappu’s outburst over the recent killing of Maharashtra politician and former minister Baba Siddique in Mumbai, allegedly by the Lawrence gang.

The Purnea MP had lambasted the law and order situation in the country and claimed that he would “destroy the entire network of the two-bit criminal Lawrence Bishnoi in 24 hours if the law permits.”

He had also visited Mumbai to meet Siddique’s son and offer his condolences.