# India and England cricket team threatened
RNS: Sikh for Justice, a US-based organization, has sparked concerns ahead of the India-England Test match scheduled to commence on February 23 by calling on Maoist groups to disrupt activities in Ranchi.
The organization’s member, Gurpatwant Singh Pannu, allegedly reached out to the CPI (Maoist) through YouTube, demanding the cancellation of the match in Ranchi and suggesting the creation of chaos in Jharkhand and Punjab to achieve this objective.
The call also included purported threats directed at Rohit Sharma, the Indian cricket team captain, and Ben Stokes, the England cricket team captain, warning them against participating in the match.
Gurupbant Singh Pannu has told the Maoists that cricket should not be allowed on tribal lands.
These developments have heightened security fears and raised questions about potential disruptions during the upcoming cricket event.
The Ranchi Police has initiated an investigation into the matter, with senior police officials, including Ranchi DC Rashtragul Sinha, overseeing the case.
The authenticity of the audio-video content of the threat is currently under verification. An FIR has been lodged in Ranchi in connection with this incident.
This is not the first time such threats have been made. In March 2023, the Ahmedabad Crime Branch Police arrested two individuals for issuing similar threats to people in Gujarat, warning them against watching the India-Australia cricket match.
The threats were traced back to a bulk video and voice message released by Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, aimed at creating chaos during the match at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
The accused, identified as Narendra and Rahul, were arrested from Rewa district in Madhya Pradesh. They were found to be using advanced SIM box technology to divert calls through an illegal telephone exchange to the people of Gujarat.
The accused were charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act and the Information Technology (IT) Act, and police recovered 11 SIM boxes and 168 SIM cards from their possession.
