The Bengaluru police on Tuesday arrested a man from Karnataka's Hubli town for calling the office of the Karnataka Sahitya Academy and threatening with dire consequences if they honour rationalist writer KS Bhagwan with Lifetime Achievement Award for 2013.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police Sandeep Patil confirmed about the arrest, The Hindu reported.
The accused, identified as Raghunath Tantri, is a 45-year-old priest and works as a warden at a boys' hostel run by the Akhila Bharatha Madhva Mahasabha Sangha.
The police arrested Tantri after tracing him down to his house in Hubli with the help of the mobile phone he used to make the threat calls on Monday. Tantri has reportedly confessed to making the calls to the Academy.
"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'," the daily quoted a source as saying.
On Monday, the Karnataka Sahitya Academy received 20 threatening calls from unidentified people. The Academy's registrar CH Bhagya immediately filed a complaint with the police, India Today reported.
In his complaint, the registrar named Raghupati who said that "choosing Bhagwan for the award was not a right decision, as he is anti-Hindu and said that he (Tantri) will not be responsible for the consequences."
Reacting promptly to the complaint, the police have provided security to the Academy officials, apart from beefing up patrolling in sensitive areas, according to reports.
Security has also been beefed up for Bhagwan, who will be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award on 7 November in Dharwad.
