SMS threat against Sachin Tendulkar

| November 3rd, 2008 | Categorized as Sport

MUMBAI: A text message purportedly sent by Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) to police officials of all police stations in Nagpur on Sunday, stating that the JeM would kidnap cricketing hero Sachin Tendulkar, caused a flutter in New Delhi and a red-faced police commissioner in Nagpur.

On Sunday, after police officials received the text message with the threat to the nation’s favourite cricketer clearly spelt out, 

the message somehow reached the local media and was splashed in the Monday newspapers. Subsequently, Nagpur police chief Pravin Dixit confirmed to the press that a threat to Sachin existed but that the police would provide the required security cover to the entire team and ensure that no untoward incidents took place during the final Test between India and Australia, starting November 6.

Interestingly, intelligence agencies in Delhi had no clue of such a message circulating in Nagpur and learnt of the possible threat through Dixit’s statement to TV channels. ‘The higher-ups in Delhi took very serious view of such a threat, following which it became clear that the message was most likely a prank,” said a source from the Nagpur police commissioner’s office.

On Monday evening, Dixit issued a fresh statement to the press that was ambiguous and open to interpretation. The statement read, “No specific player is at threat. Security would be provided to the entire team.”

This message could mean that either there was a threat to the entire cricket team arriving at Nagpur or that the police were only following usual security procedures put in place during all cricket matches.
When contacted, Dixit told Sakaal Times, “We have already handled this matter. We are investigating the origins of the message.”

In year 2007, intelligence agencies had received inputs that a terror strike was imminent during the then ongoing one-day series between India and West Indies, being played on Indian soil. Security agencies in Delhi claim not to have received any such inputs since then.