Hyderabad: People are engaging services of domestic help or servants at shops without verifying their documents or checking their history. This negligence often costs the employers when servants run away with valuable articles and cash of their employers, the police say.
With the incidents of servant indulging in property offences in the city being reported frequently, the cops advise employers to take extra care while hiring domestic help.
P. Shiva Shankar Rao, inspector of Sultan Bazaar police station, said that owners trust their house help and often give access to keys and lockers to them. Recalling a recent incident of servant theft, he said that the cloth shop owner left the entire shop’s responsibility on two of his servants and went to Rajasthan. “They looted clothes worth Rs 15 lakh along with Rs 5 lakh cash. The shop owner had unshakable faith in his employees as they were recommended by his relative,” said the officer. The inspector also said that often the shop owners get help or servants from different states, mostly from their native state, on the recommendation of their relatives or friends. “As the servant is referred by a known person, they are not suspected.”
The police say that servants or housemaids know the location of cash and ornaments and sometimes even the keys or codes which unlock the lockers where valuables are kept. “People become victims of servant theft due to their negligent behaviour of sharing details with servants without suspecting any foul play.”
In case of a theft, the servant is nabbed in a day or two but to recover the stolen cash is very difficult as they spend it quickly. “It is tougher for us to recover stolen valuables from women suspects, working as domestic help,” said the inspector.
Yet another difficulty is that they escape to other states immediately after the theft. This makes it difficult for the police to nab them as they need to coordinate with other state officials, which itself is a long procedure.
Deputy Commissioner of Police, (south) V. Satyanarayana said, “Once the person uploads the Aadhaar card or any other ID proof, along with photographs of the servants, then we will have their records permanently and in case they commit any crime, we can nab them quickly. It will also be a warning for the servants that they are being watched not just by their owners but also by the police,” Mr Satyanarayana said.
S. Ravindar, inspector of Punjagutta police station, stressed that servants at times end up attacking or even killing their employers. He said that most of the times it was not intentional but only done to avoid being caught.
Santosh Kumar, detective inspector of Punjagutta, said that if there was any obstruction by the employer, the servant might attack them.
