Maid held for stealing gold worth Rs 8 lakh

A maid has been arrested by the Palghar police for allegedly stealing 27 tolas of gold worth nearly Rs 8 lakh from a house. The theft was detected when the owner of the house wanted to wear the jewellery for a housewarming function. Mysteriously, the maid left the job just two days before the function. The accused had been hired as a replacement for the victim’s regular maid, who was on maternity leave.

The police said that the victim had hired her without verifying her records with the Palghar police.

Vrushali Raju Singh (28), the accused, worked in the bungalow of Mobin Khan (62) located in Palghar (east). According to Raiz Khan, a corporator and son of the victim, “We were not aware about the theft till mid-May, when there was a housewarming function of my new bungalow. When my mother wanted to wear the jewellery she found that some gold pieces were missing and also just two days before the event, Vrushali left the job; so our needle of suspicion fell on her and we informed the Palghar police. My mother had last worn the jewellery on February 28 and we believe that the jewellery may have been stolen sometime between February and mid-May.”

“We have arrested Vrushali under Section 380 (theft in dwelling house) of the IPC on Friday . She was produced before the Palghar court on Saturday and remanded to police custody,” said PI Nilesh Mainkar of the Palghar police.

“We have time and again alerted citizens to inform us while hiring a new maid, but in this case, Mobin did not inform us, as Vrushali was a replacement to their regular maid, who was on maternity leave,” said PI Mainkar.

The officer also said that it is shocking that Mobin had kept such a huge set of jewellery in their house and not in the bank locker. The maid would come only in the evenings to sweep the floor as she also worked full-time in a pharma company in the day, Mr Mainkar said.