Tirupur Mayor receives threatening calls from London

Tirupur Mayor K Selvaraj is said to have received threatening calls from a person in London, demanding a ‘hefty amount’ to help a particular movement fighting for Tamils in Sri Lanka ‘or else face dire consequences’, Indian police sources said.

According to the sources, the person, who called on the Mayor’s mobile phone reportedly threatened to eliminate him if he failed to give the money. Since Selvaraj was not fluent in English, he disconnected the line. However the man called again and threatened him in English.

On receiving a third call, the Mayor rushed to the office of the Deputy Superintendent of Police here and handed over the mobile phone to him. As the DSP started talking, the caller asked him to hand over the handset to Selvaraj.

This time, the caller spoke in Tamil, with a Sri Lankan accent and repeated the threat, the sources said. Selvaraj was not available for his comments. Senior police officials were tightlipped on the issue.

The mayor has so far not lodged a formal complaint, the sources added. Selvaraj is the first mayor of Tirupur Corporation, which was upgraded from a Municipality on January 1. PTI