After Uddhav Thackeray, threat call for Sharad Pawar and Maharashtra home minister

Even as police are probing the threat call to blow up Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray''s private residence here, an anonymous caller phoned Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh''s Nagpur office, threatening him and NCP chief Sharad Pawar, a minister said.

Police have been informed and they are investigating, the state minister, who did not wish to be named, told reporters at Vidhan Bhawan here on Monday.

On Sunday, Mumbai police had beefed up security outside Thackeray''s residence Matoshree after an unidentified caller, claiming to be fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim''s aide, called the bungalow''s landline number.

Maharashtra NCP unit president and Water Resources Minister Jayant Patil said "threats to the chief minister and Sharad Pawar is a serious matter".

"Anti-social elements are trying to raise their heads again. The state home department will probe the matter," he told reporters.

Leader of Opposition in Assembly, Devendra Fadnavis, demanded a proper investigation into the matter.

"I think these threat calls need to be properly investigated," he said. "It needs to be checked whether these were serious threat calls or if somebody is doing it deliberately," he added.

Police should take care of those who have received such calls, the former chief minister said.