BENGALURU: In November last year, a couple who were working as domestic helps at a jeweller’s house and two of their associates decamped with cash and jewelleries worth a whopping Rs 15.15 crore. The next month, a servant stole 700 gram of gold jewellery from the house of his former employer. He had quit a year back and had made duplicate keys of the house!
These are some of the notable such theft cases in Bengaluru from 2024. The city last year witnessed a sharp increase in such cases, reporting 383 cases, a 20% spike compared to 2023. Of these, the police have solved 145 cases. In comparison, 320 cases were reported in 2023 and 174 were solved. Most of these thefts involved migrant workers. According to the data shared by the city police, the total value of the goods — jewellery, cash, electronic gadgets and other valuables — stolen by domestic helps in 2024 is estimated at Rs 46.5 crore with booty worth Rs 9.8 crore recovered by the police.
Speaking to TNIE, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Shekhar H Tekkannavar pointed out that negligence of employers makes it easier for servants to commit crimes. “Before hiring domestic help, homeowners should verify their credentials with the local police station, which helps to determine if the servant has criminal antecedents. Employers should also collect original proof of identity and verify them,” he advised.
Another step homeowners can take, the officer said, is to hire domestic helps through authorised human resource agencies to ensure a proper background check.
Police said most domestic helps involved in theft cases in the city are from other states. “They first gain the trust of their employers, while some Nepalese helps specifically target big houses and plan the thefts before they join work. The servants even recommend the owners to hire their relatives. Over time, house owners tend to trust the helps and often hand over the keys to them,” the officer said.
He also noted that many employers fail to maintain proper records or information about helps. “When the accused are habitual offenders, it becomes easier to detect and solve the cases. However, if the accused are from other states, it is often difficult to trace them due to the lack of proper details provided by the house owners.
This delay in obtaining information significantly impacts case detection,” the officer added. On the low rate of detection of such cases, the officer said, “In some instances, owners file false cases against servants simply to remove them when they demand higher pay.”
He also pointed out that the police officers have to pay from their own pockets when they travel out of state to trace the accused, which is also a reason for such cases going unsolved.
MAJOR CASES IN CITY
A couple from Nepal working at a jeweller’s house and two of their accomplices stole 8 kg of gold, 212 grams of diamond jewellery and Rs 40 lakh in cash, worth Rs 15.15 crore in total.
The theft took place under Vijayanagar police station limits during the first week of November last year
The Bellandur police arrested a man for stealing 700 grams of gold jewellery from his former employer’s house. He used to work as a car driver and had made a duplicate key of the house before leaving the job in 2023. In December 2024, he learnt that the house owner was out of the city, and stole 700 grams of gold jewellery
Another couple from Nepal, along with three men, were arrested by Jayanagar police for stealing gold and silver jewellery worth over Rs 1 crore from the house of the Sampige Theatre owner in Jayanagar III Block on October 21, 2024