The Koraput sub-divisional judicial magistrate (SDJM) on Tuesday received a parcel through speed post, which contained a Maoist letter written in Odia, two bullets and a detonator.
The letter accused SDJM Debasish Panda of harassing people by rejecting their bail pleas. “Leave the place immediately or you will be punished at the Praja Court,” the hand-written letter said. The sender identified himself as D Kameswar Rao, a resident of Raniguda Farm in Rayagada town. It was booked from the post office of Rail Mail Service (RMS) in the town.
Police, however, suspected it could be the handiwork of some prankster who wanted to create panic. The two bullets were dead and the detonator was an old rusty one, they said.
“A case has been registered and investigation is on,” Koraput SP Awinash Kumar said.
“We have sought the help of Rayagada police to verify the sender’s address. Everything will be clear once we complete our investigation,” he added.
Meanwhile, postal officials in the district said it was impossible to verify the content of parcels as they had no scanning gadgets. “We can’t always ask a customer to divulge what is inside the parcel. It is also very easy to write down a fake address. We have no mechanism to verify them,” assistant superintendent of posts (Jeypore division) B C Padhi said.
On January 13, 2012, state election commissioner Ajit Tripathy had received a parcel with a fuse. Barely seven days after that, the chief secretary’s office got a parcel with detonators.
