The Threat SMS

Last month, around 9 in the night, I was working on the PC when I received a Threat SMS on my cell phone which was lying besides the monitor, the message read something like this: 

 

Excuse me, Don?t dare to call up on this number,
Or else u would have to face sever consequence from police
And I will finish you off 

 

The first thought that came to my mind that someone was playing a prank with me, as the message came from an unidentified number thinking that one of my friends had changed his number and this is their way of letting me know about it. I did not bother to call up the person; instead I decided to send a message asking the person’s name. One or two hours had passed since replying the message. I got a second message from the same number, this time saying: 

 

Stop all this nonsense

 

For a moment, the thought came to my mind that may be it’s a girl who is getting irritated because of some loser sending messages continuously and she might have accidentally send the message to the wrong number which would be mine in this case (the thought of a guy being behind this did not came coz in such cases they would prefer to call and swear expletives or the message cannot be expected to be so polite if this was a genuine case). I still had my doubts though…. Giving the benefit of doubt and still thinking that someone was pulling a fast one on me, I decided to send a second message asking them what their name was and they probably send the message to the wrong number. Again there was no reply soon. I was staying up late night playing a newly downloaded game on my cell phone when I got the third message from the same number which went like this:

 

What is Mobile?

  ↓

   ↓ 

   ↓ 

   ↓  

 ↓

  Neeche neeche kya dekha raha hain
Hath main kya kabutar pakda hain

 

It was 1:30 in the night when I got this message; I was now 100% sure that one of my friends has to be behind all this. I know two people who stay up late and even narrowed it to one as he worked in the evening shift and is also known for changing numbers frequently. I decided to call but I did not know what was coming for me next. The voice said “Hello”. I did not say anything for a moment as it did not sounded like any of my friends. “Who is this” I asked. 

 

“I have been getting a lot of abusive messages from you for the past two days. I am warning you to stop all this” the voice sounded like someone who was older than me and sounded disturbed. That made me take the call seriously and I explained the person how I thought that someone was playing a prank on me by sending the “Threat SMS”. He again told me to stop sending the messages and asked me whether this is a good time to call anyone? I once again explained him how I had just received a message from your mobile and asked if whether he was sure that the number sending him the messages was from my mobile number. He spelled out my number and I told him how that is simply not possible. I asked him his name and he said “Rajiv Jain”. 

 

I gave my memory a push to recall. I did not know anybody by that name. “Why do you want my name” the voice said with fear that could be felt in his voice. He told me that he would call up the next day in the morning to talk about it. I kept the phone down saying thanks. By the time I kept the phone down, my sister was standing outside my room listening to the whole conversation. I told her and Mom what had taken place right from the start. 

 

My sister started grilling me “Try to remember, you haven’t uploaded your number to any sites” She went to say how foolish I was to call up the number something that she does not even when she receives a message saying Happy Birthday from an unidentified number. I went back to my room thinking about what just happened, how something like this could be possible. When it comes to gizmos and gadgets, I know a lot of stuff especially on how it can be misused. So I was pretty sure that it was not the case here. Either the other person is lying or there is something else going on here.

 

As I was asleep, I told myself there is nothing to be worried about and there was this gut feeling that things are not like they seem to be. My instinct has been right on many occasions and I decided to go with it. The next day I was expecting a call from the person in the morning, which did not happen. I had donned my detective cap by then and decided to investigate the matter. 

 

My first task was to find out which network did the cell number belonged to which was easy all thanks to the internet. I came to know the number belonged to a new cell network operator launched recently. That helped me narrow down to one of the suspects behind this mystery. I decided to call that friend of mine and inquire whether he has got a new number; coz I remember very well of him telling about changing to the new network as it was giving away a free umbrella for every subscription. He denied it and asked me what made me that question. I went about telling him about the incident right from the scratch as it was narrated before. 

 

My friend asked me you did not get afraid by such message? I said what is there to fear; after all I have not done anything wrong. He told me maybe someone might have pulled a prank on me and asked me how does one complain about it. The only thought that came to mind was complaining to the cell operator about such an incident taking place. Soon the topic changed and I realized that my friend’s voice was different. He had just woken up and was not keeping up well thanks to the cold and fever but was feeling better. I was in my room reading the paper in the afternoon when the thought of the person not contacting came to me. Minutes later, I got the fourth message from the same number saying:

 

Hello don’t give miss call

 

I did not even bother to reply thinking that if he is indeed getting so much troubled, he would call me up. I was sure that if I came to know that it was someone I know then he is gone, dead, and kaput. Sometime later the phone rang; it was from the same number. I picked up the call and this time the voice sounded different. The person on the other side kept threatening me saying that I am sending him messages with expletives, giving him miss calls and that if I did not stop, it won’t be good for me. I tried to pacify the person saying to cool down and listen to me first before he starts abusing me. He still kept threatening me saying that he has connections with the underworld and the police. That just did it. 

 

I stopped being nice and told him how I have also connections and tried to reason with him why I would try to send him messages when for the past couple of days I have not send it to anyone? I told him he was trying to make a fool out of me by saying abusive messages were being sent from my mobile. I told him that is not possible and that if he is so dead sure I’ll file a complaint with the police and then see what happens.

 

He was still not done, telling me that he would file a complaint. I again asked for his name, this time he told me it was “Rajiv Mehta” and again try to make him understand that why would I do such a thing in the first place? Soon his tone changed he kept asking me “Pechana nahi kya” the voice on the other side said. “Pechana nahi kya” the voice said again. This time I actually took notice of the voice and I said “Ma****” and yes it was him. I made sure I gave him an earful. 

 

It was the same suspect whom I had called in the morning. He wondered how I came to know which network the number belonged. I came to know that I was not the first one but the second victim. The first one happens to be one of his girlfriends; who just refuses to talk with him when she came to know that it was all a prank. The next thing I know, I was being asked for some mushy messages so as to cool her down. 

 

Thanks to his cold and fever his voice sounded very different than it normally is. That’s why I could not nail him the other day.  

 

P.S. I am waiting to meet him so that I can beat the shit out of him for pulling such a crap. BTW, my friend did not get that umbrella as he brought the new number through a friend under a different scheme.