01 July,2014 06:38 AM IST | | Shirish Vaktania
The accused had taken intimate photos of the young college student when they were seeing each other; when the relationship soured, he threatened to make them public if she didn’t pay him
A college student resorted to stealing from her own parents, in order to pay her 20-year-old former boyfriend who had been blackmailing her, threatening to upload naked photos of her on a social networking site. The woman stole cash and gold jewellery worth R1.5 lakh from her own house to pay the accused.
Charkop resident Arihant Sawant works at a car servicing company in Malad. According to the police, Sawant met the complainant in January through a common friend, who lived in the same neighbourhood as Sawant. The friendship blossomed into a relationship. A police officer investigating the crime said, "The two were physically intimate and the accused took photos of the woman when she was naked, using his mobile phone.
Later, Sawant called off the relationship, and soon started threatening her, demanding lakhs of rupees in exchange for keeping her photos private." Afraid of the humiliation she would have to face if the photos were made public, the woman resorted to committing theft in her own home, stealing cash and gold jewellery. She also gave away her own gold chains and earrings to Sawant to save her reputation.
The woman's parents soon discovered that cash and gold ornaments were missing from their home, and based on a hunch, asked their daughter if she had anything to do with the disappearance. The woman then broke down and admitted to having stolen from her parents. Telling them the whole story, she begged them to help her.
The policeman added, "The woman's family approached us to registered a complaint and we arrested the accused under section 376 of the IPC as well as sections under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. He has been remanded in police custody till July 2.
