Police nab 22-year-old drug addict for blackmailing, robbing minor neighbour

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She probably needed funds for her daily fix and found the perfect prey in her 14-year-old neighbour. But she didn't realise she would get caught so soon. The Tardeo police have arrested a 22-year-old beauty salon staffer for allegedly blackmailing her neighbour into stealing gold ornaments from the latter's home. The minor had handed over gold worth Rs 30,000 to the accused.

The case came to light after the victim's mother found an earring on the floor while cleaning and asked her daughter about it, after which she broke down and confessed. An officer said the accused appears to be a drug addict and might have done the act to fuel her habit.

Scared into stealing
Narrating the sequence of events, the police said that on July 24, Dikshita Mandela saw the minor with a boy near their building and threatened to tell her mother about her "relationship".

An officer said, "The girl wasn't in a relationship with the boy; she had just bumped into him while coming home. But the way the accused threatened her, she got scared."

For three days, Mandela hounded the minor for money, but the latter begged her to leave her alone, saying her single mother didn't have much money and that she (the minor) was ready to do anything else Mandela wanted, the officer added. On July 27, Mandela saw the girl's mother leave for work and went to their house, asking the girl to give her ornaments. Mandela sent the girl's younger brother out to play, after which the minor stole one gold necklace, two nose rings and a pair of earrings from the safe and gave to Mandela.

The next day, the girl's mother found one earring on the floor. "Surprised, she checked the safe and saw that all the ornaments were gone. Scared, she asked her daughter, who then told her part of what had happened," said Sanjay Surve, senior inspector.

Caught with the booty
The police questioned the girl, but she was inconsolable. "She kept crying, in a dilemma whether to reveal the reason for the blackmailing. Finally, officers managed to calm her down and coax it out of her," said another officer. A team went to their building, where Mandela was nabbed. Cops said she feigned innocence, but the ornaments were found in her house.

Also read: Mumbai Crime: Jilted lover's bid to blackmail girlfriend's dad lands him in jail

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