Domestic help held for Rs57lakh Byculla theft

A domestic help was arrested on Saturday for allegedly stealing valuables and cash amounting to Rs57 lakh from the residence of a businessman in Byculla. The incident took place when the businessman was away in the US last month. The accused has been identified as Shrikant Pandurang Shinde.

Police said Shinde (23) has been working as a domestic help for the past two years at Lalit Chaudhary’s flat in Planet Godrej building near Jacob Circle in Byculla. “Top two floors of the building are duplex flat. While Chaudhary and his wife stay on the top floor (4001), where all jewelries and cash are kept, their two children stay on the floor beneath (4000), that also contained a small room for domestic helps,” said a crime branch officer.

Before leaving for the US on June 27, Chaudhary had locked the flat no 4001 and the bedroom of flat no 4000, but had kept the kitchen open so that the domestic helps can prepare the food for themselves. “Since both the flats were interconnected, on June 28, Shinde broke open a window glass of bathroom and entered through the common passage that connects the top floor. He then broke the window glass of the bedroom of flat no 4001 and decamped with cash and jewelry worth Rs57 lakh,” the officer said.

“Shinde had fled to the his native place in Karad in Satara  and returned after few days. Meanwhile, the domestic helps also alerted Chaudhary in the US about the theft, who then asked his mother to come to Mumbai from Andhra Pradeh and lodge a police complaint,” the officer said.

“The manner in which the theft was committed, it seemed to be the handiwork of an insider. After questioning, Shinde confessed to the crime. We are in the process of recovering the stolen booty,” the officer said.