Mumbai, June 11: Death threats and plots to kill have dominated headlines in the past one week. It's scary how people are threatening to take away someone's life and many of them are simply getting away with it.  From Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra and even the aam aadmi, each of them are living under the threat that someone out there is possibly on the hunt for them. Are we all stuck in a web of danger? Can anybody threaten to kill someone and just get away with it?

PM and CM

Last week, a letter, allegedly written by Maoists, revealed a plot to kill the Prime Minister of India. The letter was reportedly recovered from the house of one of the accused arrested by the Pune Police last week in the Bhima-Koregaon violence case. Even as the news was developing, reports came of death threats from Maoists to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. The CM reportedly received a couple of threat letters over the past few days.

Activists

On the other hand were Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani and Student activist Umar Khalid, who claimed having received death threats from 'fugitive gangster' Ravi Pujari. Both of them have complained to the police about the threat calls they received. "Today again I received a threat call on my original number from a person introducing himself as Ravi Pujari from Australia, and he also sent a text message, saying - Stop giving provocative speech or will shoot you. Umar Khalid is also in my list," Mevani tweeted.

Bollywood

Then there were threats out in the open. Bollywood and Hollywood actor Priyanka Chopra received open threats of "facing the consequences" after a scene on "Hindu terror" in her TV show Quantico. Even as the actor apologised on twitter, the comments that followed on her tweet were those of threats and abuses.

Salman Khan, too, has been in danger. On Saturday, the Haryana Police arrested a sharp shooter of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang for allegedly planning to kill the actor over the blackbuck poaching case.

Journalists

Senior journalist and anchor Nidhi Razdan was also among those who received threats on the social media. "I got a death threat on Instagram via a pvt msg - I will hang you,I will execute you. I reported the account to Instagram. They replied that it does not violate their guidelines. Shame on you Instagram. Am deleting my account. And yes, I’m filing an FIR," Razdan tweeted.

Last month, senior journalist Ravish Kumar came out in the open about multiple death threats issued to him over the phone as well as social media. He even made his phone calls public to let people know the kind of threats that were being issued to him. Renowned journalist Barkha Dutt has a similar horrific story to tell. "Received chilling veiled threats and "messages" from powerful people in the Establishment today that my family and I are under surveillance - and that I will be smeared & maligned to stop me from starting any new projects. Was advised to get my house debugged. Is this my country," she tweeted last week.

Just months ago, we saw how open death threats were being issued to actor Deepika Padukone and filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali over the controversial film Padmaavat. What has been common in most of these cases of death threats has been that many of these culprits are getting away with them.

Are we helplessly in danger? Why has it become so convenient to threaten someone with DEATH and say 'I will kill you', at times just over a difference of opinion? Ideally, none of these threats can be taken lightly. They all shout of a plan to kill someone. If they are not shut down with a hammer, it won't be long before this becomes a phenomenon.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 11, 2018 11:56 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).