Factory owner drugged, house robbed

NEW DELHI: A 58-year-old textile factory owner and his 14-year-old granddaughter were drugged and their house ransacked, allegedly by their domestic help, at north

NEW DELHI: A 58-year-old textile factory owner and his 14-year-old granddaughter were drugged and their house ransacked, allegedly by their domestic help, at north Delhi’s Banarsi Das Estate in Timarpur on Monday.

HT Image

The 30-year-old help was employed a fortnight ago without police verification. After drugging the family members, she called her two aides. The three allegedly ransacked the house for an hour and made away with cash and jewellery worth over Rs5 lakh, police said.

According to the family, a CCTV camera in the residential colony captured the two men leaving the locality with the stolen items. The video footage shows the domestic help, Pooja, following them a few minutes later.

The businessman, Pawan Saraf, owns a textile factory in Haryana’s Kundli. On Monday morning, he was at home with his grandchildren, Siya (14) and Yashwardhan (6). His wife and daughter-in-law had gone to visit a doctor.

Around 10 am, Saraf’s son Puneet had left for the factory, leaving his father, the children and the domestic help at home.

Saraf and his granddaughter were taken to Sant Parmanand Hospital in Civil lines from where Ruchi was discharged on Tuesday.

“My father is still in ICU though he is recovering. Doctors told us my father and daughter were given an intoxicant with juice. My daughter says Pooja had forced her to drink a glass of wood apple squash,” Puneet said

The almirah’s lock was broken and diamond, gold and silver jewellery and ornaments, besides Rs50,000 in cash, were missing.

Two days after the incident, Pooja or her accomplices were still to be traced. A senior police officer said Pooja was employed at the house on the reference of a local security guard, Sultan.

The family said they were not sure if Pooja was their domestic help’s real name and were unaware of her permanent residential address. They did not approach the police for her verification.

“Apart from her photos, we have no other details. Her employers say Pooja had told them that she belonged to a village in West Bengal. But we have reasons to believe she had been misleading the family,” said the officer.

Madhur Verma, DCP (north), said, “We registered a case and teams have been formed to trace Pooja and her aides. It is shocking that despite our advertisements, people are still employing domestic helps without police verification.”