In a shocking incident, former Indian cricketer Sourav Ganguly received a death threat letter at his home. In the letter, he was asked not to attend a district felicitation function which is going to take place later this month.

Ganguly is presently the president of the Cricket Association of Bengal. He said that he got the letter by post on Saturday.

"I have intimated the whole matter to the police as well as the organisers of the programme there," he said on Monday.

Lalbazar sources said they are reviewing his security arrangements after the threat.

Without revealing the whole content of the letter, Ganguly said: "it warned him of grave consequences if he dares to visit the district."

When he was asked whether he will be travelling for the programme now, he said, "I have not decided yet and am waiting to hear from the authorities on this."

This is not the first time that the cricketer had received such a threat. Previously, he was once the target of a terror organisation along with other cricketing legends like Sachin Tendulkar.

In 2008, he revealed that he and his family had got two threat letters. In one letter it was written that they would kidnap his daughter Sana. While one letter was from Indian Mujahideen, the other letter was from Maoists.

"This time, the letter seems innocuous and might even be a prank. But the special branch has been activated and they will file a report in this regard even if no complaint is lodged as part of a routine exercise," said an officer.

Cops said "the scan is necessary given certain areas of Midnapore are still frequented by Maoists. However, it is important for two other reasons felt state officials - firstly, this is the first time such a threat has reached his Behala residence after a gap of almost nine years and secondly, there is the explicit reference to a certain place which no other earlier letter had mentioned."

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BY M. DIVYA SRI