Eastern Railway HQ gets threat letter, alert sounded

Kolkata: The Eastern Railway headquarters has received a letter demanding Rs 50 crore, non-payment of which it said would harm the passengers in Howrah division, officials said here on Monday.

Security has been beefed up at important stations and railways installations, they said. “A handwritten letter was received at the headquarters and it has been given to the police,” divisional railway manager (Howrah) R. Badrinarayan said. It said if the demand was not met, an IED would go off at Howrah station.

The letter also reportedly mentions that terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad plans to kill chief minister Mamata Banerjee. The letter sparked off concerns among officials and, significantly, led to an FIR against 60-year-old Subhas Chandra Das, the former director (engineering) of Doordarshan, whose name and number was mentioned in the letter along with one Sanjeev Sinha, a proprietor known to Mr Das.

“This mischief is obviously the handiwork of someone who knows both of us,” he said.