Domestic help held in Kerala for stealing Rs 1.8 lakh

The Vakola police arrested a 20-year-old domestic help from Kerala, for allegedly stealing cash and gold ornaments worth Rs 1.8 lakh from her employer. She was remanded to police custody by the Bandra court on Saturday. The accused allegedly stole the money to meet expenses for her third marriage, said the police.

According to officials, the arrested accused has been identified as Shobha alias Sharnaya Pravin Nadar. She had allegedly planned to steal the valuables from the bungalow of a Dr Thomas John (69) around two months ago for her third marriage with a person who resides in Mangalore.

After committing the crime in March, the accused had fled the place. After realising the theft, the employer Dr Thomas lodged an FIR at the Vakola police station. The police then tried to track Shobha by her mobile number but failed as she had switched it off. Later, when the police officials reached her native place in Kerala, they traced Shobha to her second husband’s home.

According to the sources in Vakola police, after being arrested Shobha confessed to the crime and said that even though she had been working for Dr Thomas for four years, her salary remained constant at Rs 100 per day. She also said that whenever she asked her employer for a raise, he would ask her to quit the job. But she could not quit it as she belonged to a very poor family and needed the money. Therefore she decided to run away with Dr Thomas’ valuables and settle down with her third husband.

A police official said on condition of anonymity, “According to the complainant Dr Thomas, on the day of incident he left his bungalow for routine work and told Shobha that he would return in the evening. However, he got stuck at work and called Shobha on her mobile phone to inform her of the delay but her number was switched off. He then called on the landline but no one received the call.”

The officer further added that being fed up with no one receiving the calls, Dr Thomas called up her daughter and asked her to check on the bungalow. When the daughter reached the place she found that the house was left unlocked and Shobha was not present there. On further inspection, she realised they had been looted. The accused has been booked under the relevant section of the IPC. The valuables are yet to be recovered.