Extortionist texts school with blast threat, dares cops

The principal of a private school in west Delhi’s Shalimar Bagh was allegedly sent text messages directing her to pay Rs 5 lakh as extortion or see her school blown up.

When police called on the mobile phone number from which the SMSes were received, the suspect allegedly dared police to nab him.

But it emerged that the 22-year-old suspect had done little preparation before venturing to make the extortion SMSes. He was subsequently nabbed on Sunday night.
Rajni Kholi, principal of Tagore Modern Public School, received the first SMS on Saturday evening.

“The message asked her to give Rs 5 lakh or see the school blown up. We were given 24 hours to arrange the cash,” R S Jain, secretary of the school, told Deccan Herald.
Another message arrived the next morning reminding her that 12 hours had already lapsed.

“We suspected that the SMS sender was not known to the school or else he would have sent the message to the school’s president, director or the secretary instead of threatening the principal,” said Jain.

Police were approached after they realised that the principal’s phone number was displayed on a board outside the school from where the suspect must have noted it down.

Police registered a case on Jain’s statement and began investigations. They called the mobile phone number from which the messages were being sent.

When the suspect learnt that police were on the other end of the line, he dared them to track him.

“Pakad sako toh pakad lo (catch me if you can) he told us,” a police officer involved in the probe told Deccan Herald.

Surveillance was launched and the mobile phone location was traced to a nearby slum. The suspect was nabbed and identified as Vikas, a jobless youth.

“He was using his maternal uncle’s SIM card to text. The uncle had no hand in the crime,” the officer said, adding the suspect has no criminal history and was just trying his luck at quick money.