‘Time to finish you off’: Man ‘threatens’ Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge, arrested

2 min readBengaluruUpdated: Jun 8, 2026 01:29 PM IST

Congress leader and Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge (File photo).

The police in Karnataka arrested a man on Sunday for allegedly hurling casteist abuses at Home Minister Priyank Kharge and threatening to kill him in a social media post.

Sudhir Bangera, 48, was arrested after one Suresh complained to the Karkala town police that Bangera had used objectionable, derogatory, and casteist language against the minister in response to a post on the Namma Karla Facebook page. Both the accused and the complainant reside at Karkala in Udupi district.

The police registered a case under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 351(3) (criminal intimidation), 196 (promoting enmity between groups), 353(2) (statements conducting to public mischief), along with provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

On X, Kharge shared a screenshot of Bangera’s post, where he allegedly abused the home minister and added, “The time has come to finish you off.” Bangera was responding to a post on the Facebook page claiming that Kharge had said that as home minister, he would not allow the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to spread communalism.

“It hasn’t even been 48 hours since I assumed charge as Home Minister, you are already showing your fear, anxiety, and uneasiness,” Kharge said on X, tagging the state BJP. He accused the Opposition party of “using the RSS to insult me and issuing death threats”.

Asking the BJP to convey his regards to the “Body of individuals”—a reference to the RSS—the Congress leader wrote, “Tell them to keep the documents ready to register their parent political organisation.”

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat last year described the organisation as a “body of individuals” while rejecting Kharge’s criticism over its refusal to register with the government.