The Orissa police on Sunday lodged two different cases after unsigned printed posters threatening the BJP, VHP and RSS from going ahead with their proposed December 25 Orissa bandh were pasted around Bhubaneswar and a handwritten postcard was sent to former Union minister Bhakta Charan Das threatening him over his opposition to Vedanta Alumina. Both — the posters and the letter — were purportedly from the Maoists.

In Bhubaneswar, around half-a-dozen posters warning people against supporting the proposed December 25 Orissa bandh by the RSS, VHP and BJP were found plastered on public walls. Unlike the usual Maoist posters which carry some sign of the Maoist office-bearers, the posters that were discovered in Nayapalli were unsigned and warned people against joining groups that were allegedly involved in religious violence. The posters described the RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal as rioters.

The police have registered a case and sent the posters for forensic examination.

However, Bhubaneswar Deputy Commissioner of Police Himanshu Lal said the posters could be "pure mischief". "Prima facie it seems like that. But we are investigating it," he said.

In a separate incident, Congressman and former Union minister of state for railways, Bhakta Charan Das lodged an FIR with the Bhawanipatna police station after he received a postcard which threatened to send a bullet through his chest if he continued to oppose Vedanta Alumina.

Das, whose outfit Green Kalahandi is leading the Dongaria Kandh tribal agitation against the bauxite mining of Niyamgiri mountain in Kalahandi district, has planned a massive protest through human chain in the last week of December.

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