New Jersey: Recently elected first Sikh mayor of the Hoboken city in New Jersey Ravinder Singh Bhalla on Friday reportedly acknowledged that there were death threats that have made against him and his family.
Ravinder Singh Bhalla.
In a reported statement issued in this regard following a security breach at City Hall on Thursday, Ravinder Bhalla said he and his family have been threatened and that the city is working with the FBI’s Joint Task Force to improve security at City Hall.
“This incident, along with death threats to me and my family, is an unfortunate reminder that we need to take security seriously,” he said.
The announcement came less than 24 hours after a man entered city hall and left a bag in Bhalla’s office. The man, who was not apprehended, entered the building through the Newark Avenue entrance just before 8 p.m. and went through metal detectors. He told security officers that he was going to use the restroom, media reports said.
Furthermore, it was noticed by Mayor’s deputy chief of staff, Jason Freeman, that a bag had been thrown in the direction of a secretary’s desk. Freeman made eye contact with the man, who ran out of the office and fled the scene.
Apparently, city spokesman Juan Melli referred all questions about the investigation to Hoboken police. The department’s investigations bureau did not respond to repeated emails sent by the media sources in order to seek more information on this aforesaid incident and death threats to the mayor.
The FBI’s Joint Task Force has “evaluated” City Hall and that the city is working with the task force to implement their recommendations for physical and procedural changes to improve security for all employees in the building,” reads the quote from the statement of mayor Ravinder Singh Bhalla published on the official page of the news website NJ.com.