A case has been registered against a BJP MP on a complaint from an online journalist accusing the politician of threatening and insulting him over phone about a report filed by him, police today said.
In a complaint registered at the Mangaluru East police station, H S Shreyas, a reporter with the 'News Karnataka' web portal, alleged that he was threatened by Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha over phone and verbally abused.
A case was registered yesterday against the MP under IPC sections 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 507 (criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication), police said.
Shreyas had written an article in the portal about Simha's views on his Facebook page favouring actor Salman Khan after he was convicted in the hit-and-run case.
The journalist had spoken to Simha before giving the article on the Salman issue and the story link was sent to the MP's twitter page. As per the complaint, Simha called up the reporter on May 8 evening and threatened him with dire consequences and warned him against "spreading falsehood", police said.
Meanwhile, a delegation of journalists from Mangaluru met Assistant Commissioner B Sadashiva Prabhu and Deputy Commissioner of Police Vishnuvardhan today, demanding action against Simha.
Journalists from Bengaluru and Mysuru have also condemned the act in separate statements. Condemning the MP's action, the News Karnataka team pledged to stand by the journalist.
