Maid uses dead man’s ATM card to siphon ₹35 lakh during lockdown Got PIN From Deceased’s Mobile Phone

Maid uses dead man’s ATM card to siphon ₹35 lakh during lockdown

Got PIN From Deceased’s Mobile Phone

Dwaipayan.Ghosh@timesgroup.com

Kolkata:19.08.2020

The detective department has arrested a maid servant — employed at a house on Anwar Shah Road for last seven years — and her two accomplices for allegedly stealing the ATM card of her employer, who had passed away during the initial lockdown days, and withdrawing Rs 35 lakh from his account over the next two months.

The cops have arrested main accused Rita Roy (45), a resident of Nakashipara in Nadia, her son-in-law Ranjit Mullick (31), a resident of Karimpur in Nadia, and Mullick’s brother-in-law Soumitra Sarkar (45) of Guptipara in Hooghly. Police have recovered Rs 27 lakh from the accused so far.

According to joint CP (crime) Murlidhar Sharma, Anurag Agarwal, a resident of City High on Prince Anwar Shah Road, had alleged that someone had stolen the ATM card of his father Satyanarayan Agarwal, who had died during the first week of lockdown. Using the card, the accused had withdrawn Rs 34,90,000 from different ATM counters between March 30 and May 30. A case was registered at Jadavpur police station.

“Since it was a full lockdown phase and no one was going to banks, no one had an inkling that money was being withdrawn. The son stayed in another flat. The mobile phone that belonged to Satyanarayan was switched off, so the SMS alerts never reached his family members. The deceased’s son had SMSed the PIN of the card to his father since Satyanarayan used to forget it often. The maid got the PIN from the mobile,” said an investigating officer. It was when Anurag went to the bank to take stock of his father’s accounts on June 1 that he realized about the theft.

During investigation, cops collected the transaction details and CCTV footage of the ATM counters from where money was withdrawn. It was found that two persons had withdrawn the cash wearing masks and caps. They also chose ATM counters of different banks at Karimpur, Krishnagore and Ranaghat in Nadia and Guptipara in Hooghly. “With no other lead, CCTV footage were shown to local sources and a ground survey was carried out around the ATMs. Finally, we identified both Mullick and Sarkar and they were arrested on August 13 from their respective residences,” said Sharma.

The accused were interrogated and it was found that they were brothers-in-law and that they had got the ATM card from Mullick’s motherin-law, the maid servant of the complainant’s father. Roy, the maid servant, was arrested from Kolkata where she continued to work.

“Searches were carried out at their respective residences. While Rs 16 lakh was recovered from Mullick, Rs 2 lakh and the ATM card was seized from Sarkar and another Rs 9 lakh was recovered from Roy,” said Sharma. The cops have taken custody of the accused till August 25.