Youth receives online message for help in killing West Bengal CM

Kolkata, October 18

A student in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district has received a message on WhatsApp from a member of a “terrorist organisation” seeking help in killing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, a senior state CID officer said on Wednesday.

The 19-year-old polytechnic student was offered a sum of USD 1,00,000 as reward for his assistance in killing Banerjee, he said.

“The messenger had identified himself as somebody from a terrorist organisation searching for an associate in India,” the officer said.

The West Bengal CID, which has initiated an investigation into the matter, has traced the phone number used by the person to communicate with the youth in Murshidabad’s Behrampore town to Florida in the US.

The student received the message from the person, who identified himself as ‘Latin’, at around 1 PM yesterday, the officer said.

The messenger had asked the student “not to worry about his safety”, and to act fast or they “will choose another guy” for the job, he said.

“He (the messenger) was again online at around 3.30 PM hen he told the student he was planning to visit India. When the student told him he loved his country and did not want to see it destroyed, the messenger replied that the organisation did not want to destroy India but just kill one person,” the officer said.

The probe agency said it was investigating whether somebody was playing a prank and also trying to get in touch with authorities in Florida for more information. — PTI