On WhatsApp, Bengal student 'offered Rs 65 lakh to assassinate Mamata Banerjee'

KOLKATA: A 19-year-old student from Behrampore in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district was on Monday shocked to receive an offer through WhatsApp to help assassinate chief minister Mamata Banerjee for a reward of $100,000.

The phone number used to communicate with the polytechnic student is from Florida in the US. The West Bengal CID has started a probe.

“I started receiving the messages from somebody, who identified himself as Latin, soon after 1pm on Monday. He said he works for a terrorist organisation and is looking for a partner in India,” the student from Behrampore said.


According to the transcript of the conversation, to which TOI has access, the unidentified person wrote: “We will pay you $100,000 for helping us. You will be safe don’t worry. Are you ready?” The student then asked him to wait. To this, the person at the other end wrote: “Ok. Do fast or else we will choose another guy. Don’t let $100,000 go away,” This communication occurred at 1.10 pm.

The student wrote: “No, thanks.”

The person at the other end was online again at 2.46 pm and called the teen a loser.

At 3.30pm, the person said he planned to visit India. When the student told him he loved his country and did not want to see it destroyed, the person replied: “We will not destroy India. We just want to kill one person.”