Bhubaneswar: The Indian-origin Sikh mayor of Hoboken city in the US state of New Jersey has opened up about being the target of a series of letters that threatened to kill him and his family. The letters, which he received last year, first called on Ravinder S Bhalla to resign, but then began threatening his and his family’s life, targeting him for his Sikh faith, CBS News reported on Tuesday, according to PTI.
Bhalla, however, told CBS News in an interview that he and his family were standing strong and that hate was not welcome in his city. Bhalla, who was first elected for the post of Hoboken mayor in 2017, said: “I’m very proud to lead this city as an American of Sikh background.”
He won again in 2021 after running unopposed.
“Our family began receiving a series of letters in the mail,” he said.
The first, more than a year ago, asked him to resign, and then a second letter threatened his life.
“The third threat, the most jolting, came soon thereafter and said, ‘This is your last warning. If you don’t resign immediately, we will kill you, we’ll kill your wife, we’ll kill your children,” he recounted.
One letter read: “It’s time to kill you.”
It is then that the law enforcement agencies provided the mayor and his children with 24-hour security.
Bhalla said during the same time he was receiving these threatening emails, his neighbours, his brother and a few city colleagues began receiving packages with sexually explicit and threatening materials.
He said the person responsible for those was caught and charged, but the person behind the threatening letters is still out there.
