Ranjan Kumar, in his 30s, a resident of Darbhanga village in Maoist-affected Aurangabad district, about 150 km from here, was detained on Saturday by police for threatening to kill Obama. “We have detained Kumar and are interrogating him,” Aurangabad Superintendent of Police Ravindran Shankaran said over telephone.
He said that Kumar was detained based on information provided by the state intelligence. “He had made a telephone call to the US embassy in New Delhi, spoken to an official and threatened to kill US President Obama,” Shankaran said.
Taking the threat seriously the US embassy passed on the message to the Indian government, which informed Bihar police.
He said that Kumar had probably sent an SMS threat also to kill Obama. “The special branch is interrogating him, an Intelligence Bureau team is coming to interrogate him and a team of US embassy is reaching to quiz him,” the official said.
Kumar, the son of a retired railway official, will also be examined by a medical board to determine his mental state. Only after that would the police initiate action against him.
According to police sources, Kumar graduated from Gaya College under Magadh University in Bihar.
Till a few months ago, he was staying in New Delhi to prepare for various competitive examinations.
Published 10 May 2009, 19:11 IST