By IANS
Raipur : Chhattisgarh police rejected reports Monday that any death threat letter written by Maoist ultras was found during raids in any part of the state.
"We have never recovered any letter written by Maoist militants issuing threats to cricketers," Inspector General Girdhari Nayak told IANS.
"Police in Chhattisgarh have conducted several raids during past week in Maoist bastions in the state, including the worst hit Dantewada district, but no letter of rebels regarding threats to any cricketers was recovered," Nayak added.
A section of print and electronic media reported that police had recovered a handwritten letter written by Maoists from somewhere in Dantewada district, during a raid last week.
As per media reports, the letter, which was supposed to be an internal communication among Maoists, said the rebels had decided to kill Indian cricket captain Rahul Dravid and wicket-keeper M.S. Dhoni "since cricket is a game of the elite class and cricketers lead a lavish life".
Media reports also said that besides Dravid and Dhoni, Maoists had also threatened to kill Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sharad Pawar and two other senior BCCI officials, Niranjan Shah and Rajiv Shukla.
Maoist violence in Chhattisgarh has forced about 50,000 people, mostly the tribal population, in the state's insurgency hit southern Bastar region to desert their villages and settle in government run relief camps as refugees during past two years.