Rajkishore Chaurasia at his Patna City residence on Friday. Picture by Sachin

The trader receiving ransom calls was despondent on Friday after his son’s school was not keen on addressing his problem.

Rajkishore Chaurasia is in dire straits after receiving a call demanding extortion from one Deshu Bhai of Khallas Gang. The extortionist threatened the trader that he might have to pay with the lives of his two children and younger brother if his demand was not fulfilled. The police refused to lodge an FIR in connection with the ransom demand. And now, the school where his 15-year-old son studies, has denied the bus facility to the student citing security reasons.

“My elder son lives with his maternal grandmother in Danapur. The place where he stays is 1km away from St Dominic Savio’s High School. When he was younger, he used to take the school bus. For almost a year now, he is going to the school on his bicycle. However, after I received the threat calls, I asked him not to go to school,” Chaurasia said.

“On Friday, my wife Aparna, visited the school to request the principal to allow my son to avail the bus service that the institute provides. If the bus, which passes through Danapur, picks and drops him home every day, the risk factor would be less. But the school refused to heed, saying that the case is complicated. They can’t do anything to ensure the safety of my child,” the Career Computer Centre owner added.

A student of Class X, Chaurasia’s son has not attended school since August 24.

“I have been asked to keep my son home till September 10 and come back the next day. He is missing his classes and no one is helping me,” the 45-year-old trader said.

When contacted, the school authorities, said they did not deny the bus service to Chaurasia’s son.

“The boy’s mother came on Friday. The school hasn’t rejected her request. I am out of town and the principal of the school had said they would have to wait till I return. The matter is serious and the school is apprehensive about the student’s security. What if something happens to him at the bus stop?” asked G.J. Galstaun, the director of the school.

He added: “I will return on Saturday. On Sunday, the school would hold a meeting of its managing committee, during which this issue will be discussed. The boy’s parents have been called to the school on Monday. We will do whatever we can to help the student.”

Chaurasia received a letter on June 13 in which the writer demanded Rs 5 lakh as one-time ransom and Rs 10,000 as monthly extortion from him. After months, during which he got two more threat calls on his cellphone this week, the police said they first needed to verify if someone was playing a prank.

On August 29 evening, Chaurasia had visited the Chowk police station for the third time with a complaint application but no acknowledgment receipt was given to him again.

“The police accused me of talking to the media. They took my application without giving me any acknowledgment receipt. They were very rude. I visited on Friday, but was denied the FIR again. I am very worried about my elder son,” he said.

The June 13 letter had every detail of Chaurasia’s two sons, especially the routes they take to school. It stated that they would kill his sons and his younger brother if he failed to cough up the money.

On June 16, the trader went to meet deputy superintendent of police (Patna City) Sushil Kumar, who asked him to visit Chowk police station. He went to meet the station house officer and gave him the application but he did not give an acknowledgement receipt, stating they would look into the matter.

The police had said the caller could be a student at the computer training centre. The cops also said the mobile tower locations showed that the calls were coming from Lakhisarai. Pushkar Kumar, the station house officer of Chowk, had said once they were sure it was not a prank they would lodge an FIR.