RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan receives threatening e-mail, security beefed up

MUMBAI: Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan has received a death threat via an e-mail bearing terror outfit ISIS' name following which his security has been stepped up and Mumbai police have launched a probe to identify the sender.

The email, which threatened to eliminate the Governor, was received last month at the RBI's official e-mail address, police said today.

Though the police did not elaborate on the content of the mail which was sent from isis583847@gmail.com, police sources said it warned Rajan that he would be eliminated as a contract was received to execute him.

The Reserve Bank has not issued any official statement as yet on this.

When contacted, the central bank's spokesperson said Rajan is away in Washington along with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for the annual World Bank Group meeting and it will take some time to get his comments.

The electronic mail reads: "If Rajan pays more than the contract amount received to kill him, then he (perpetrator) would think as to what can be done (whether to kill Rajan or not)," the sources said.

Preliminary probe suggests that the gmail account has been accessed from different countries, including Australia, Canada, Italy, Germany, the US, Nigeria, Poland, Belgium, Hong Kong and Ukraine, in a span of a few days, and the police said a proxy Internet Protocol address was used to send the email.

"The letter was received a few days back. We have taken note of it and the Governor's security has been beefed up," Maharashtra Additional Chief Secretary (Home) K P Bakshi told PTI here.

After the e-mail was received, RBI officials alerted the crime branch.

Mumbai Police spokesman Dhananjay Kulkarni said the threatening e-mail was received by the Governor's office 20-25 days back.

"This e-mail, it seems, has been sent using proxy server and it appears to be an act carried out by some Nigerians running a racket who are experts in doing so (sending threatening e-mails)," he said.

"We (Cyber Cell of the Mumbai Police) have also asked Google officials to trace the details of the log-in ID and we could receive their reply in next one week," he added.

ISIS, or the Islamic State, is on a rampage in parts of Iraq and Syria and have been trying to establish a Caliphate, imposing primitive cultural and religious measures in the areas under its control.