Odisha: House help who fled Delhi with employer's assets arrested
A house help who decamped with her Delhi employer's cash and jewelry worth over Rs. 45 lakh was arrested with the help of technical surveillance of the phones of random people she used on the way to her home in Odisha, police said on Thursday. The gold and diamond ornaments and Rs. 2,530 out of the stolen amount of Rs. 13,000 have been recovered.
The house help was hired through an acquaintance
Police said that they received a complaint on July 22 from Sarbani Dasgupta, a Deputy Director in the Telecom Export Promotion Council, about a theft at her house in Paryavaran Complex. During the inquiry, it was found that the complainant had engaged a full-time house help in December last year through an acquaintance but her police verification was not done.
Complainant saw her house ransacked after returning from work
According to police, Dasgupta alleged in her complaint that on July 22 she came home after attending her brother's marriage in Kolkata and went to work after keeping all her jewelry in a cupboard. When she returned in the evening, she found her house open and ransacked, and the help was missing alongside the jewelry and the cash.
Accused changed several buses to reach Bhubaneswar
Dasgupta got suspicious and called her house help but her phone was switched off. Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Atul Kumar Thakur said a team was sent to the native village of the house help in Odisha's Bhubaneswar. As there were no direct bus services from Delhi to Bhubaneswar due to COVID-19 restrictions, the accused changed several buses to reach Odisha, he said.
She was tracked down with help of technical surveillance
"The accused woman used the mobile phone of shopkeepers, bus drivers, and co-passengers to call her husband and friends. On the basis of these phone calls, our team managed to track her route," Thakur said. "With help of technical surveillance, the team managed to arrest the accused from Odisha and she has been brought Delhi," he further added.
