In an incident that should serve as a wake-up call for educationists and parents, two school dropouts who flunked their Class XI exams last year, tried to blackmail their teacher on Sunday, demanding Rs 1 lakh. They were subsequently caught by locals, but let off after warning and a written apology.
The day began with the boys trying to intimidate the teacher by claiming they had images of her husband caught in a compromising position with another woman on their cellphone camera. They threatened to upload the images on the internet if she failed to pay up.
After a barrage of phone calls from the edgy duo, the teacher who works in a higher secondary school in Kodambakkam area, decided to confront the boys herself, as her husband was out of town. She asked them to come over to a particular location near her house to collect the amount and hand over the photos.
When the boys reached the spot on their two-wheeler, she realised that they were her former students. Meanwhile, alert locals nabbed the duo.
“The boys were roaming around on their scooter for some time and were talking over the phone. Later there were heated exchange of words between the woman and the boys. That is when we intervened. When we learnt about their crime, we caught hold of them and took away the phone in which they claimed they had captured the sleaze photos,” said a local resident.
The teacher said she had earlier pleaded with the boys, over the phone, to scale down the amount citing her poor financial condition, but the boys were unrelenting. “They were very rude and spoke like professional criminals. They told me to sell my jewellery to pay up. My husband was out of station and with a toddler to take care of, I had undergone intense mental agony since morning,” she told the locals who gathered there after the boys were caught.
It was now the boys’ turn to plead. “Don’t inform our parents or the police,” they begged. Considering their age, the teacher and the locals let them off after obtaining a written apology.