RBI governor gets threat mail, sender held in Nagpur

The RBI Governor received the email on February 23 in which the sender threatened to harm Patel and his family if he did not quit, a police official said.

Mumbai, Mar 5: Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel allegedly received a threat mail asking him to quit the job from a 37-year-old man, who has been arrested from Nagpur, police said on Sunday.

The RBI Governor received the email on February 23 in which the sender threatened to harm Patel and his family if he did not quit, a police official said. Patel forwarded the email to a senior RBI officer, who in turn approached the cyber cell of Mumbai police and lodged a complaint.

During investigation, police found that the email was sent from a cyber cafe in Nagpur. A team from the Mumbai police's cyber cell then went to Nagpur and arrested the accused, identified as Vaibhav Baddalwar, on Friday. "We have arrested the accused from Nagpur in connection with the threat mail to the RBI Governor," Deputy Commissioner of Police, cyber cell, Akhilesh Singh said.

An offence was registered by police under Indian Penal Code section 506(2) (criminal intimidation) in the case. Police claimed that the accused admitted to having sent the mail. Baddalwar was later produced in a Nagpur court which remanded him in police custody till March 6.

The accused did his post-graduation abroad and is currently jobless. It is suspected that he sent the mail out of frustration, Singh said adding that an investigation into the matter is on. The RBI spokesperson did not offer any comments in the matter.

PTI