A 39-year-old man was arrested from Midnapore town in West Midnapore district of Bengal on Friday for sending a letter with death threats to former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly. The accused was identified as Nirmalya Samanta.

The reason for sending the letter appeared quite convoluted. Samanta apparently wanted to prevent Asish Chakraborty, an MLA from Garbeta in the same district, whom he didn’t like, from basking in the reflected glory of the company of Ganguly as both were invited to a cricket programme on January 19, reports Hindustan Times.

The former cricket captain was supposed to attend the inter-college cricket competition organised by Vidyasagar University, and Chakraborty --- who is also the president of the sub-division cricket body --- was supposed to be present there.

“Your son is hereby warned not to attend the programme. If he dares to come here, you will not see him again,” read the letter addressed to Ganguly’s mother Nirupa. The letter carried the name of a person ‘Z Alam’.

The anonymous letter was sent by courier to Ganguly’s Behala residence in Kolkata on January 7 asking him not to attend the programme organised by Vidyasagar University on January 19.

“We will hand over the case to Behala police station where a complaint was lodged,” said West Midnapore police super Bharati Ghosh.

Police officers told HT that Samanta admitted having written the letter and was repentant for his act.

Ganguly, who is the president of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), informed the Kolkata Police but didn’t lodge a formal complaint. He also informed the police in Midnapore and the university authorities.

The letter was sent by courier and police began inquiring with courier booking offices in the town and quickly found out who the sender was. Ganguly was invited as the chief guest in the final of the inter-college cricket tournament jointly organised by Vidyasagar University and the District Sports Association.