Police said Gaud claimed he spent Rs 25,000 on his first flight journey to Uttar Pradesh and back, and another Rs 20,000 on food and boarding expenses.
Mumbai: Khar police arrested a cook after he allegedly stole Rs 7.5 lakh from his employer’s flat, used the money to book return flights to Uttar Pradesh and came back to Mumbai a week later. Santosh Gaud (25) was arrested when he arrived and came out of Mumbai airport around midnight on Oct 1. Police said Gaud claimed he spent Rs 25,000 on his first flight journey to Uttar Pradesh and back, and another Rs 20,000 on food and boarding expenses. Police recovered Rs 7.05 lakh from a cook accused of stealing Rs 7.5 lakh from Rs 13 lakh kept by his employer in a wardrobe at his Mumbai home. Gaud arrived at Chandan’s home at 12.45 pm on Sept 25 to cook while two other domestic workers were present. After serving Chandan food at 2 pm, he allegedly left without informing anyone, leaving his bag in the kitchen,” said a police officer of the Khar police station. At 5 pm on Sept 25, Chandan found the cupboard key missing from its usual place and discovered that Rs 7.5 lakh was gone. Chandan, who runs a garment business, had kept Rs 13 lakh in business proceeds and savings for daily transactions. Gaud told Chandan on Sept 27 that he was in Alibag and claimed the next day that he was in Jharkhand, according to the FIR. A police team—senior inspector Santosh Kate, inspector Prakash More, assistant Hanmant Kumbhare, sub-inspector Prakash Shirshat and detection staff—supervised by DCP (West Zone-3) Mohit Garg nabbed Gaud on his arrival in Mumbai at midnight on Friday.
“CCTV footage from the building passage showed Gaud with an unusually bulky trouser pocket and holding his bag in front of himself, apparently to conceal it,” Chandan said. Police said he distributed the cash among people at several locations in Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand. Police had registered a theft case against him. Gaud had worked for garment businessman Chetan Chandan at his Khar flat for five years and knew where business earnings were kept. He had allegedly learnt how to unlock the drawers: cash was kept in the third drawer, its key in the second and that drawer’s key in the first. “Gaud had observed the employer’s mechanism for opening the wardrobe. Chandan kept money in the third drawer, its key in the second drawer and the second drawer’s key in the first. His wife found that no gold ornaments were missing. Investigators traced the locations through technical analysis and recovered the money.