Surya Singh Besra A Telegraph picture

Ranchi, May 22: Raj Bhavan has sought a report from the state government on Jharkhand People?s Party (JPP) chief Suraj Singh Besra?s allegations that chief minister Arjun Munda had threatened him.

Governor Syed Sibtey Razi forwarded Besra?s plea for security to the chief secretary demanding that the state government apprise him of the facts.

Raj Bhavan has asked for the facts as it is not aware if it was Munda who had called Besra or if someone else had called the JPP chief from the chief minister?s residence. The governor also wants to know if Munda had called Besra and threatened him or extended support to him.

Razi wants his queries answered especially as the political activists who had accompanied Besra to Raj Bhavan to demand a probe are disgruntled BJP leaders from Jamshedpur. Abhay Singh, Vinod Shrivastava and R. Tiwari were part of the JPP?s chief entourage to the Raj Bhavan.

Besra?s petition to Raj Bhavan, co-signed by Stephen Marandi, states that he requires security cover as he received a threatening call on his cellphone from a landline number from the chief minister?s Ranchi residence.

Meanwhile, Giridih JMM legislator Hemlal Murmu has claimed that it was his duty to raise the issue of the telephone call in the Parliament.

?Besra, who has been threatened by the chief minister, is a former MLA and a senior leader of the Jharkhand movement. And it is my duty to highlight this serious issue,? he said today.