NAVI MUMBAI: The police have arrested a 19-year-old BCom student from Assam for allegedly sending a death threat with a ransom demand of ₹1 crore to rapper Bilal Shaikh, better known by his stage name Emiway Bantai.

The accused, identified as Arulv Rameshkumar Alohi, was arrested following a technical analysis of a threatening message he allegedly sent to the official mobile number of Bantai Records, a label owned by the rapper, on May 25.

The police learnt that the message had been sent from the Sonitpur district of Assam, from where the accused was tracked and brought to Navi Mumbai for further questioning.

“While the arrest has been made, we are probing whether the accused acted independently or was following instructions from a larger network,” said an officer from the NRI Coastal police station. Alohi was produced before a court on Wednesday, which remanded him in police custody till Thursday, the officer added.

In the threat message, the accused identified himself as Goldy Brar, a Canada-based close associate of incarcerated gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. The message also mentioned the name of US-based Rohit Godara, another close associate of the gangster, officers said.

The timing of the threat coincided with a song released by Bantai on May 26 titled Tribute to Sidhu Moose Wala, almost exactly three years after the popular Punjabi musician was assassinated by unidentified assailants. The police had claimed that Bishnoi, who has been in jail since 2014, was the mastermind behind the killing, for which Brar had also claimed responsibility.