A 45-year-old priest and a hostel warden identified as Raghunath Tantri from Hubballi, who allegedly made threat calls to Karnataka Sahitya Academy for choosing writer K.S. Bhagwan for annual lifetime achievement award for 2013, was arrested on Tuesday.
Raghupathi Tantri was tracked down through the mobile phone he used to make the , alls and a team of police picked him up from his house in Hubballi.
Raghupathi works as a hostel warden at the Akhila Bharatha Madhva Mahasabha Sangha-run boys’ hostel that comes under a leading Mutt in Udupi, in Hubbali. He is also a priest who performs rituals, police said.
“Raghupathi has confessed to making the calls and justified his actions as he still believes Bhagavan attempted to breach peace in the society with his ‘derogatory statements’,” sources said
Sandeep Patil, Deputy Commissioner of Police, said the police had taken Tantri into custody.
The police have provided security to the Karnataka Sahitya Academy and jurisdictional police have been directed to step up patrolling in sensitive areas.
