India being one of the most populated countries in the world is also rife with shadowy dealers and drug peddlers looking to make some quick cash. Remember the ‘Rasna Drug Scam’ of the man smuggling drugs in peanuts shells? Well, this 88-year-old woman’s habit of selling drugs got her put behind bars for the tenth time. It would be safe to say that she’s notorious enough to be the desi Walter White.
Possibly the oldest drug dealer in Delhi, Rajrani Topli, 88, has been selling drugs since she was 25. According to reports, the lady has been arrested from West Delhi’s Inderpuri area for the 10th time.
“She was last arrested in 2018 and spent a few weeks in jail before she came out to continue dealing in drugs,” said Monika Bhardwaj, Deputy Commissioner of Police (west).
After the police raided several drug dens on receiving tips from their sources, they were able to confiscate 16 grams of heroin from her which she is believed to have procured to sell in the city.
“A police team was stationed near the Loha Mandi Flyover in Naraina. At 2.50 pm, the police spotted the woman and nabbed her soon after she got off an e-rickshaw,” said the officer.
Declared as a woman with a ‘bad character’ (a person with a long criminal history), Topli during her investigation told cops that she had shifted to Inderpuri from a village in Haryana after being married as a minor. She gave birth to seven children who also entered the drug trade along with her, six of whom died due to drug addiction or due to accidents.
After her husband died in the 90s, she took over the business and came in touch with dealers from Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.
A repeat offender, Topli has been reportedly booked under the NDPS Act and sent to judicial custody. The police sources have claimed that jail holds no threat for Topli as she has managed to secure a bail every time she has been arrested in the past. The police are now on the hunt for the associates Topli hired to adulterate the heroin she bought from dealers.
Be it helplessness or the need to earn a livelihood, no reason can justify putting the lives of hundreds of people in danger by selling them mind-altering substances.
Stay clean, stay safe people!
Cover image: source