Citispace activist Neera Punj has claimed to have received another threatening call from the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA). She had allegedly been threatened shortly before her colleague Nayana Kathpalia’s house was shot at on January 8.

Police said the caller rang from a PCO booth located in Dongri and said, “Withdraw all the SRA related writ petitions that you have filed. If you do not comply, you will face dire consequences.” While she confirmed that she had received the call, Punj refused to say anymore. Meanwhile, a Crime Branch officer said, “The call is like an open challenge to the crime branch… they do not seem to fear us.”

Punj and Kathpalia’s organisation Citispace have been fighting for open spaces in the city and had filed several writ petitions in the Bombay High Court.
Meanwhile, another SRA activist, H S D’Lima, who was stabbed in March 2005, and has also worked with Citispace in the past, has been fighting with police to take action after he got a series of threatening handwritten letters some weeks earlier. “The letters say black magic will be used against me and my family. They also describe how a Rs 5-lakh supari has been given for my life,” he said.

Mumbai Mirror