Man accused of issuing death threats to Mukesh Ambani remanded to police custody till August 20

A Mumbai Court on Tuesday remanded a man to police custody till August 20 after he was arrested for allegedly abusing and issuing death threats to Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani over the phone..The 56-year-old accused, Vishnu Bhowmik, was arrested on August 15 and was produced before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate at Esplanade, Mumbai.The order was passed by Additional CMM SV Dindokar today..According to the prosecution, Bhowmik, a jewellery designer by profession, made nine phone calls to a Reliance Foundation Hospital, in which he threatened to kill Ambani.Considering the seriousness of the act, an offence was registered against Bhowmik under Section 506(II) (Threat to cause death or grievous hurt) of the Indian Penal Code and he was arrested by the police on August 15..The prosecution sought for 10 days of custody on the grounds that they wanted to investigate the motive of the act.“The calls were made on Independence Day, so there is motive and intention. Why did he not do it on any other day? There is a threat to Mukesh Ambani and why did he specifically call only him? This is a serious offence, it is not a simple case”, the prosecutor submitted.The prosecutor also emphasized that the accused seemed to be a repeat offender and the police wanted to conduct a thorough investigation to find out who all were associated in the case..Opposing the custody, the defence lawyer clarified that the call was made to a hospital and not to Ambani himself.The Magistrate was also informed that the accused was mentally ill and had a certificate issued by a psychiatrist to that effect, to show that the accused was undergoing treatment. This, he pointed out, showed that there is no intention to do anything untoward.The defence also refuted allegations of antecedents..After a brief hearing, the Magistrate proceeded to send the accused to five days of police custody.