Bengaluru house help vanishes with all gold from owners, days after joining: Report

Several pieces of gold jewelry, including bangles, earrings, a chain, a mangalsutra, and a finger ring, were missing from Bengaluru couple's home.

A Bengaluru couple hired a live-in domestic helper through a Facebook ad, only for her to abscond with gold jewelry worth ₹2.3 lakh just five days later, reported The Times of India.

The couple’s complaint has now led to an investigation by the Hebbal police, who are working to track down the fugitive domestic help.

According to the report, Abhijit Deb, who works as an area business manager at a private firm in Basavanagudi, and his wife, a senior process executive with a work-from-home arrangement, were looking for assistance at home and posted their requirement for domestic help on social media.They were reached out by a woman who introduced herself as Devonita Karmakaru, also known as Reshma. Devonita initially contacted his wife offering to work as a part-time maid. When his wife mentioned the need for a live-in maid, Devonita declined. However, a few days later, she called back and expressed her willingness to take up the live-in position. She joined the household on December 11.

She was provided with a room to stay, and the couple made sure to collect her Aadhaar card as proof of identity. However, it later came to light that the Aadhaar card she provided was fake, a fact the family discovered only after the theft occurred.

On December 16, Abhijit left for work around 9:30 a.m., while his wife and father were at home. In the afternoon, when his wife woke up at around 4:30 p.m., she discovered that Devonita had vanished. After attempting to contact her on the phone, which was switched off, the wife checked the bedroom cupboard and found that several pieces of gold jewelry, including bangles, earrings, a chain, a mangalsutra, and a finger ring, were missing. The total value of the stolen ornaments was ₹2.3 lakh, said the report further.

Abhijit mentioned that he was unaware of the employee verification process until they approached the police to report the theft. He also noted that Devonita had been difficult to work with. For example, if they asked her to wait until they were up in the morning to cook according to their preferences, she would begin cooking by 6:30 a.m. on her own. Although Devonita claimed to be from West Bengal, Abhijit said her accent suggested she was actually from Odisha.

The couple’s complaint has now led to an investigation by the Hebbal police, who are working to track down the fugitive domestic help.