The Kolkata Police have arrested a maid who made her two sons-in-law withdraw ₹34.90 lakh from her dead employer’s account through several ATMs over 71 days.
In what police officers called a “rare case,” 45-year-old Rita Roy, a widow, stole the ATM card of her dead employer Satyanarayan Agarwal who lived in an upmarket residential complex in south Kolkata.
Since Agarwal used to forget the card’s PIN frequently, his son Anurag had saved it as a text message on Agarwal’s phone. The woman accessed the phone and got the PIN, said Murlidhar Sharma, joint commissioner of police (crime).
She got her sons-in-law, Ranjit Mallick (31), a resident of Karimpur in Nadia district and Soumitra Sarkar (45) a resident of Balagarh in Hooghly district, to steal the money.
Anurag detected the theft and lodged a complaint at Jadavpur police station on June 1. The detective department at Lalbazar police headquarters took the case.
The records of Yes Bank, where Agarwal had an account, showed that the money had been withdrawn from ATMs of various banks at Karimpur, Krishnanagar and Ranaghat in Nadia and Guptipara in Hooghly between March 20 and May 30.
Security camera footage from these ATM kiosks showed that the thieves wore masks and caps inside the counters, taking advantage of the pandemic. With face recognition difficult, the detectives started tapping locals and nabbed Mallick and Sarkar on August 13.
{{/usCountry}}Security camera footage from these ATM kiosks showed that the thieves wore masks and caps inside the counters, taking advantage of the pandemic. With face recognition difficult, the detectives started tapping locals and nabbed Mallick and Sarkar on August 13.
{{/usCountry}}Their interrogation led to Roy’s arrest from her residence in the Nakashipara area of Nadia district on the same day. The police have recovered ₹27 lakh in cash from their homes. They will be in police custody until August 25, said Sharma.