ISIS Threatens To 'Eliminate' India's Central Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan: Report

The Islamic State group allegedly sent a death threat to the head of India’s central bank, local reports said Thursday. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan received an email to his personal id earlier this month that threatened to "eliminate" him if he didn’t agree to the blackmailer's monetary demands.

The mail was sent from the email address -- isis583847@gmail.com. Local police officials are currently investigating the case. It is not yet clear if the email was a mischief or a genuine threat. Police officials in the western state of Maharashtra told DNA, a local newspaper that first reported the story, that the email id was being accessed from 10 different countries -- Australia, Italy, the U.S., Canada, Nigeria, Poland, Belgium, Germany, Hong Kong and Ukraine. Officials suspect that the mail was sent from a proxy Internet Protocol server.

“I have been given money by somebody to eliminate you. If you will pay me more than I have been paid, then we can decide on it,” the email read, according to the paper.

As soon as the email was received, RBI officials alerted the Cyber Crime Investigation Cell that began the investigation.

“We have received a complaint that a threat email was sent to the RBI governor. The email also contained the name of ISIS. We are not taking this lightly and all efforts are being made to trace the culprits,” Rakesh Maria, Mumbai police commissioner, said, according to DNA.

A police source told the paper: “We have received the login and logout details of the mail ID and the probe reveals that they were accessed from outside India.” Officials also reportedly said that the email did not contain any information on the required sum.

ISIS currently has stronghold over northern Iraq and Syria and is known for releasing gruesome beheading videos. The militant group is trying to establish an Islamic caliphate in different regions.

In January, a sympathizer of the group was arrested in India’s southern city of Bangalore. India has also banned the group, which reportedly has “negligible” support from the country's Muslims.

“I would like to make it clear that ISIS's reach is limited to only a handful of young Indian Muslims,” Rajnath Singh, the country’s home minister said in January, adding: “Unlike other countries like France, Germany, UK and the U.S., where families may be backing young Muslims to fight for ISIS, Indian Muslims, especially parents, have discouraged their young from supporting ISIS activities.”