Bajrang Dal activist gets threat on WhatsApp, prankster held

Police on Wednesday claimed to have arrested a ''cyber-criminal'' who had sent a threatening WhatsApp message to a Bajrang Dal activist in Bihar, referring to the recent gruesome killing of a tailor in Rajasthan by suspected Islamic extremists.

The complainant Sunny Kumar Singh alias Arya Rajput is a resident of Dehri on Sone town in Rohtas district and a local Bajrang Dal activist. He lodged a police complaint on July 1 after receiving the threatening message on WhatsApp from an unknown number.

''It was found during investigation that the number through which the message was sent had been generated through internet,'' said Rohtas Superintendent of Police Ashish Bharati.

Further investigations led the police to Prateek Sharma, a resident of Dharhara village in Darihat police station area of the district.

''The accused confessed during interrogation that he knew Rajput whom he had sent the message, threatening to eliminate him within four days and reminding him of the Udaipur killing, to play a prank,'' said the SP.

The team, which cracked the potentially sensitive case, was being rewarded while Sharma was being booked under relevant sections of the IPC and the IT Act, added the officer.