KOLKATA: A family residing in Behala would never have known that gold ornaments kept at their residence were missing if not for a bizarre chain of events prompted by a sudden short video on social media earlier this month.
The Parnasree police have now arrested the family’s former maidservant, Purnima Mondal (35), based on the evidence in that video, and have recovered three gold ornaments from her almost six months after they were stolen.
Entrepreneur Sanchita Mukherjee of Unique Park employed Mondal as her domestic help three years ago. Mondal suddenly left her job in Oct last year. It was only this year that Mukherjee and her husband, Samiran, realised that a few gold items were missing from the house.
“Mondal was fixated on uploading new reels called Shorts on YouTube. She would dance even on the roads and put them up. However, being illiterate, she could not read the comments in the comment section and often sought my help. I was checking one such short video and realised she was wearing my jewellery,” Mukherjee told TOI.
“I lost two gold earrings since Oct 2024 from my residence.In the first week of April, I found out that Mondal, posted several YouTube Shorts videos wearing one of my lost gold earrings. I saved the video on my mobile. I suspected that she stole my two gold earrings when she was working as a maid in my residence,” Mukherjee wrote in her police complaint.
The Parnasree police raided Mondal’s residence and recovered not just the two earrings of Mukherjee but also a finger ring belonging to her husband. “We followed up on the case and are expecting some further recoveries of stolen items from other residences where Mondal worked,” said a senior investigating officer.
“Frankly, I do not even know if my former maid stole something more since I cannot check my entire house. But I am thankful that the cops took my complaint seriously and acted quickly,” said Mukherjee.
Lalbazar has now issued an advisory saying one is vulnerable to thefts even when inside the house as much as when the house is under lock and key. “A few simple steps need to be followed to stop chances of becoming victims of such crimes. This includes locking the almirahs, getting the servants verified, and avoiding financial discussions,” said a senior officer from the anti-burglary section at Lalbazar.
