Kolkata woman steals employer's ATM card after his death, withdraws around Rs 35 lakh

Kolkata: A woman allegedly stole the ATM card of her employer after he passed away and managed to withdraw around Rs 35 lakh from his account. The woman had been working as a domestic help at the man's home for the last 7 years. The man had passed away during the first week of the lockdown.

The accused woman was identified as Rita Roy. Roy is a resident of Nakashipara. She was helped by her son-in-law Ranjit Mullick and his brother-in-law Soumitra Sarkar. The three accused withdrew Rs 34,90,000.

Satyanarayan Agarwal, Roy's employer passed away during the first week of the lockdown.

Agarwal used to stay at the house in City High on Prince Anwar Shah Road.

The accused stole the card of the deceased after he passed away and started withdrawing money. As no one was going to the bank due to the lockdown, they did not know that money was being withdrawn from the deceased's account.

ATM was sent to deceased's phone

The man's son stays in another flat. As the mobile number used by the deceased was switched off, the bank started sending SMS alerts to his family members. Agarwal's son had sent the ATM PIN to him as he used to forget it.

Roy accessed the PIN through the SMS and started withdrawing the money. The woman's activities came to light on June 1 when Agarwal's son Anurag went to the bank and learned the details of his account.

Accused identified through CCTV footage

The police used the transaction details and CCTV footage of the ATMs from where the money had been withdrawn. The footage revealed that two persons wearing masks and caps had been withdrawing money from Agarwal's account.

Murlidhar Sharma, joint CP (crime) said, "With no other lead, CCTV footage was 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. "

The two arrested accused confessed to the crime and the prime accused was arrested. The police conducted raids at the accused persons' homes and recovered Rs 27 lakh.