House help runs off with family’s locker and car

MUMBAI: A domestic help ran off with his employer’s safe containing cash and valuables along with his car, the total worth of which is Rs36.85 lakh at Mulund last week.

The Mulund police said Deepak Sahu, 31, a resident of Shreenagar in Thane, used to work at the bungalow of Suresh Ganatra in Mulund colony for the past four years. “Sahu was a trusted house help,” said Prakash Mansukh, police inspector, Mulund police station.

Ganatra, a businessman, lives in the bungalow along with his wife, son, daughter-in-law and two grandsons.

On Saturday afternoon, the complainant had gone out to do some Diwali shopping and his son and family too were away. Taking advantage of the fact, Sahu took the valuables and escaped. On returning home, the family was shocked to find the valuables and car missing.

“Sahu knew where the keys were kept as he was working at the house for years. When the family left, he took the safe, weighing 20kg, containing the valuables and dumped it in his employer’s car and escaped with it,” Mansukh said.

The safe contained Rs2.25 lakh cash along with gold and diamond ornaments. “The Ganatras had not bothered to register Sahu with the police and neither did they keep any information about him. We are looking for Sahu,” Mansukh said.

The police are questioning neighbours and locals to ascertain if there were any witnesses. The police have registered a case under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 381 (theft by servant) in this regard and have also alerted their counterparts in the