A PC candidate in Scarborough who is being investigated by Toronto police for allegedly making a written threat against a community member says the email containing the threat is fabricated.
Toronto police launched a professional standards investigation Monday into an email allegedly sent by Roshan Nallaratnam, a Toronto police officer who is running as a PC candidate in the riding of Scarborough-Guildwood.
The investigation comes after the NDP released a partially redacted email from May 30, allegedly written by Nallaratnam, in which he uses an expletive to refer to a community member and threatens that he will “teach the lesson” after the election.
An earlier email in the thread links to a YouTube video in which it appears that Nallaratnam is avoiding questions about attending a debate.
The NDP said the comments were made in an email sent out to 96 people.
“The ominous threat is even more chilling given that Nallaratnam is a Toronto Police Officer,” the party said in a news release.
But in a statement released Monday afternoon, the candidate denied writing the message.
“I did not send the email in question. The email is a fabrication from an account that does not belong to me,” Nallaratnam said in the statement.
He said he has not been contacted by Toronto police about the matter so far.
Responding to questions from reporters Monday, PC Leader Doug Ford said he is standing by Nallaratnam.
“I talked to Roshan. He says it’s a fabricated email,” Ford said. “Again, this is the NDP getting desperate and we support our police officers, unlike the NDP that say disparaging things about our police officers.”
He added that “Roshan is a great candidate and we’re going to stick with him.”
The NDP had called on Ford to denounce the behavior and for Nallaratnam to apologize.
The Liberals went a step further, calling on Ford to drop Nallaratnam as a candidate.
