School-teacher's Facebook photo issue

Youth who demanded 'kappam' ....
 if not to exhibit nude photos of breast cancer examination on Facebook

A youth who threatened a school teacher by saying that her memory card containing her exposed breasts taken for purposes of breast cancer examination would be released to the internet if a 'kappam' of Rs. 3 lakhs was not paid to him was nabbed by the police in Nawalapitiya.

It was later learnt that this suspect was a 21 year old youth who was also known to the mother of the teacher who herself was a teacher and happened to be one of her pupils while the victimized teacher concerned was unmarried and was engaged at an international school.
The suspect's mother had been running a boutique in Nawalapitiya and about 3 months prior to this, on the familiarity of the victim's mother, had left her handbag at the said boutique to be collected later. At that point the suspect who happened to be in the boutique had secretly pried into the handbag and had come across her memory card, thereby taking it into his possession.

Later, the suspect who clandestinely perused the memory card happened to come across a number of photos of the teacher and had thought of making use of them for his gain.

The teacher who did not think much of her memory card had thought that she had either misplaced it or dropped it somewhere and as usual had been attending to her routine duties when she had suddenly received a phone call from the suspect.

The caller had told her to go through the Facebook and check her latest profile there. The teacher who was somewhat gripped with fear did what the caller told and on checking the Facebook she had found that a fresh account had been opened under her name and in addition there were several photos embedded in her missing memory card.

Subsequently she had received another call from this young man when the caller said with an audible smile, "Your naked photos are not there ... I can insert those also!" It was then that the teacher realized and remembered that a number of photos of a nodule which had appeared on her breasts taken on medical advice for an examination over suspected breast cancer were available in her memory card.

She was dumbstruck because thoughts of how her self-respect would be damaged if those photos were exposed over the Facebook came streaming to her mind. When she was thus contemplating of her reputation as a teacher in this instance, the suspect called her once more and said, "I will give you one week's time before I insert those photos ... I want Rs. 3 lakhs. If I get the money .... I'll drop the idea and erase the Facebook account also; but don't tell this to the police".

The teacher then realized that the predicament she was faced with was not something to be dismissed easily. The young man had been calling continuously and had thus scared the guts out of her when she finally arrived at the conclusion of protecting her self reputation and in lieu part with the money. But on the other hand she was not in a position of finding the 3 lakhs. When the young man called him, she had told him about this problem and that she could pay only a sum of Rs. 50,000 to which he had ultimately consented.

He had then arranged a place, date and time to collect the cash. But the teacher surreptiously had taken steps to notify the police in this regard.

On the day the young man said that he would be coming to Nawalapitiya town to collect the money, on arrangement a police woman constable, Samanmali (3660) of the Crime Division came to the spot concerned in the company of the teacher bringing the cash which incidentally had been prepared with papers cut to imitate genuine cash notes.

Though the teacher was somewhat scared in this manouvre, on the mediation of the WPC, she resolved to go ahead to the spot where she was asked to come by the suspect. He had however called her once again and then asked her to come to another spot instead. In this manner, the suspect had been trying to collect his 'kappam' by directing his prey to various points for a period of over 2 hours. In the process the WPC had been vigilant about a particular youth who had been loitering in the town.

In the end, he had directed her to arrive at a place close to the railway culvert near the Nawalapitiya railway station and at the moment when the young man was in the act of collecting the money, he was taken into custody by the police officer.

The teacher then was able to identify the suspect as one Kadireshan, a 21 year old student of her mother who had been involved in this 'game'.

Later, the suspect has divulged to the police that he had wanted this money as the balance cash necessary for him to travel abroad.

This youth who was arrested was afterwards remanded until the 10th of this month on orders of Mr. L.K. Mahinda, Nawalapitiya Magistrate.