Lucknow: The Lucknow police have arrested a house help for giving sleeping pills to an elderly woman in place of prescribed drugs and stealing jewellery and cash from the house on Sunday, the police said.
“The individual in question began working at the household approximately two years ago. He, along with his father and a distant relative, devised a scheme to pilfer jewelry and cash by supplying him with Diazepam, a sleeping aid. Taking advantage of the elderly woman’s slumber, he would abscond with her valuables and a modest sum of cash. Over the course of several months, he managed to make off with jewelry valued at over ₹15.5 lakh and cash exceeding ₹1 lakh,” stated Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Durgesh Kumar.
Law enforcement took into custody the household assistant, Mohd. Suhail, aged 19, along with his father, Mohd Sharif, aged 40, and relative Shakil, aged 30, on Sunday, recovering jewelry valued at ₹15.5 lakh and ₹50,000 in cash.
The incident came to light after the woman’s son and complainant, Saif Samadi, an ‘attar’ businessman residing in the Saadatganj police jurisdiction, detected the systematic theft and promptly alerted the authorities.
“An FIR was filed on April 25 under IPC Sections 328 (administering poison), 380 (building theft), and 120b (criminal conspiracy), and a task force was assembled to apprehend the fugitives,” added the DCP.
Following the arrests, IPC Sections 411 (theft), 413 (possession of stolen goods), and 414 (disposal of stolen property) have been appended to the FIR.
According to police reports, Suhail, entrusted with the responsibility of overseeing the woman’s medication and well-being, would administer Diazepam to induce sleep before absconding with the jewelry and cash in small increments to avoid detection. He would then transfer the stolen items to his accomplices, Mohd. Sharif and Shakil.
