New Delhi: NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday joined the larger opposition narrative that the apparent assassination plot against Prime Minister Narendra Modi was devised to garner sympathy for him.

“They say there was a threatening letter. I spoke to a retired police officer, who had worked for CID. He said there is no substance in the letter. The letter is being used to garner people's sympathy,” Pawar said while addressing a gathering in Pune.

A letter discussing a plot to assassinate PM Modi on the lines of former PM Rajiv Gandhi’s killing sent shivers in the political circles on Friday. The letter found at the house of one of the five persons arrested over "links" with CPI (Maoist) talks about the ultras mulling “another Rajiv Gandhi type incident" to end the Modi regime at the Centre, Pune police told a court on Thursday.

Police have arrested Dalit activist Sudhir Dhawale, lawyer Surendra Gadling, activists Mahesh Raut and Shoma Sen and Rona Wilson from Mumbai, Nagpur and Delhi, respectively, in connection with 'Elgar Parishad' held in Pune in December and the subsequent Bhima-Koregaon violence in the district.

The letter found in Rona Wilson's house in Delhi also talks about requirement of Rs 8 crore to procure M-4 rifle and four lakh rounds, prosecutor Ujjwala Pawar told the court.

The NCP chief added, “When like-minded people came together to organise the Elgar Parishad, they were called Naxals and were arrested. Everyone knows who executed the Bhima-Koregaon violence but those who have no links with it were arrested. This is nothing but misuse of power.”

Soon after the letter surfaced, Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam also cried foul and said that this was “an old tactic” of PM Modi.

News agency ANI quoted Nirupam as saying, “I am not saying this is completely untrue but it has been PM Modi's old tactic since he was CM. Whenever his popularity declines, news of an assassination plot is planted. So it should be probed how much truth is in it this time.”

The concerned letter addressed to one 'Comrade Prakash' reads: "Greater suppression of dissent... Com. Kisan and few other senior comrades have proposed concrete steps to end Modi-raj. We are thinking along the lines of another Rajiv Gandhi type incident."

"It sounds suicidal and there is a chance that we might fail but party must deliberate on our proposal," the letter further states.