When he posted a voice clip highly critical of a player belonging to a major English Premier League football club, of which he remains a loyal fan, during an impassioned debate in a private football-based WhatsApp group recently, K.K. Shajeendran, a football analyst, had no clue that it would evoke such abusive backlash in the hours since then.
No sooner than someone leaked the voice clip and shared it in other WhatsApp groups of football fans had he started receiving abusive and threatening messages even against his family, mostly from people claiming to be fans of the player he criticised. As the number of such abusive messages entered into double digits, a rattled Mr. Shajeendran lodged a complaint with the Palarivattom police.
Since then, the police have tracked down a few of those numbers, including from abroad. While some have been personally summoned, others have been given a stern warning over the phone.
