Former Madhya Pradesh Lawmaker Arrested for Threatening to Blow Up Indian Parliament

The controversial politician from central India has been charged in 17 criminal cases in total. In 2012, he accused Congress politician Rahul Gandhi of kidnapping a child in the state of Uttar Pradesh, and in 2013, he announced an INR 10 million reward to anyone who would "kill" Maharashtra state politician Raj Thackeray.

Delhi Police on Monday arrested former lawmaker Kishore Samrite from Madhya Pradesh after he reportedly threatened to bomb the Indian Parliament.

Samrite allegedly sent a letter, a national flag, and gelatin sticks to the office of the Parliament Speaker on Saturday, claiming he would blow up the parliament building if his demands were not met by September 30th. According to media reports, his demands, totaling about 70, were related to "government schools, roads, government policies, expenditure on schemes and farm laws."

He also sent threats to the General Secretaries of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha (upper and lower houses) of the Parliament, police said.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police assumes Samrite did it to gain publicity. The authorities could not confirm if he actually posses any real explosives or was pretending to do so.

Samrite is the founder and president of a Madhya Pradesh-based party, the Samyukta Kranti Party. However, before launching the party, Samrite was an active Youth Congress member and later joined the Janata Party.

In 2007, Samrite switched to the Samajwadi Party and won the election from the Lanji constituency. However, his tenure lasted only for 11 months.