Youth held for threats to Kejriwal of kidnapping his daughter

A 24-year-old man, arrested for allegedly sending e-mails to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's office threatening to abduct his daughter, wanted to draw the attention of a high-profile person in order to get better treatment for his psychiatric issues, police said on Tuesday. The accused, Vikas Rai, a resident of Samastipur in Bihar, was preparing for the SSC CGL exams in the national capital, they said, adding that he had been staying in Delhi for over a year now.

He was currently being interrogated by the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Special Cell of Delhi police, officials said. After sending the e-mails, Rai had left for his sister's place at Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh. The police traced him and asked him to join the investigation. Rai was arrested on Tuesday after the police took permission from the court since the FIR against him was registered for non-cognisable offences, the police said. The accused, who was undergoing treatment for psychiatric issues at the Safdarjung Hospital here and was declared fit, felt he needed better treatment facilities, a senior police officer said.

"He was undergoing treatment for the last one-and-a-half to two months and the doctor told him that he was a normal person who needed to exercise and relax. He was not satisfied with the doctor's advice and felt that if he did something like this (sending the e-mails), he would be treated as someone with mental problems and would get better treatment," the officer added.

In order to draw the attention of a high-profile person to the issue, he had sent the e-mails to the Chief Minister's Office (CMO), allegedly threatening to abduct his daughter. A second-year B.Sc student, Rai was pursuing his degree through correspondence from a university in Bihar. The police have seized the phone he allegedly used to send the e-mails. Rai had sent three e-mails from his ID.

The first one threatened to abduct the chief minister's daughter, the second one said the first e-mail was not fake, while the third one said it was a fake e-mail and should not be taken seriously, the officer said. Rai was traced with the help of Google, which searched for the IP address from which the e-mail was sent. The accused used to stay with his maternal aunt at Pul Prahladpur in the national capital. His family has also told the police that he was "mentally disturbed".

"He has said that he did not have any intention to harm Kejriwal's daughter and it seems so till now. So far, we have not found any previous criminal record in his name. We are probing further and examining all the aspects," the officer said. Rai's father works in Mumbai, while his mother stays in Bihar. The CMO had received the anonymous e-mails on January 9, which were forwarded to Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik. A Protective Service Officer was deployed by the North district police for Kejriwal's daughter's security, officials said.

(With inputs from agencies.)