An 80-year-old man’s obsession with “apocalypse” has turned out to be a bother for Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Alok Kumar.

On Thursday, Devnandan Prasad Agarwal visited the officer’s janata darbar with a request to ensure that his son got back money from a debtor before “the world comes to an end in 2012”.

“I am certain of Judgement Day. Can my son get his money back before that happens? He has been waiting for it for 12 years,” Agarwal, a resident of Amraha village in Gaya, told The Telegraph after meeting the SSP. Like any other day, the octogenarian on Thursday carried with him news reports on “apocalypse”. He claimed that one of the reports said the “world would enter the ice age soon”.

The SSP, who had quite a hectic time in the darbar, accepted his application, but didn’t say much as Agarwal quietly got out of the office muttering about “the end of the world”.

Many, including some policemen in Kumar’s office, laughed at the old man, thinking him to be “deranged”.

Agarwal, however, appeared indifferent to their reaction. “They think I am talking nonsense. My son, G.P. Agarwal, is a government employee based in Ranchi and has not got his salary for six months. I was into trading years ago, but at present am staying in a small house in Gaya with my two sons and their families. My brother-in-law, Mohan Lal Agarwal, had taken a loan of Rs 1.75 lakh from my son 12 years ago. He paid interests for only four years and did not return the capital. My son is in a financial crisis and he needs the money,” he said.

“Mohan, who has a house on Thakur Bari Road at Kadamkuan in Patna and runs a business, used to abuse my son whenever he approached him for the money,” Agarwal added.

His fear is now that if the world comes to an end by 2012, how will his son get back the money? “I read vernacular newspapers regularly and came across stories that talked about a possible end to the world. I even read a story that said the world was inching towards ice age. If this happens, how and when we will get our money back? I therefore came to meet the SSP,” he said.

“There was a big crowd in his office. I hope that the officer considers my plea,” Agarwal said, as he left .

The SSP, quite under-standably, did not have much to say. “The man seems to be confused. But his problem will be looked into,” Kumar said.