Hiring maids from placement agencies is quite a usual practice in places such as Gurgaon. And few would have imagined that an agency-certified maid could be guilty of cheating a family.
Preeti and Gautam Pandey, residents of Park View City 1 apartments on Sohna road, Gurgaon, had hired Nirmala (name changed), a caretaker for their child, from a placement agency in May. Ever since hiring her, they often found valuables and cash missing from home every now and then. They had never doubted Nirmala until they caught her making away with with Rs 32,000 in cash and a mobile phone. Surprisingly, she was about to hand over the valuables to the owner of the placement agency.
"We were stumped by how often our valuables went missing nowadays but we never doubted Nirmala," said Preeti. "When Sunita, our other maid, overheard Nirmala talking to the placement agency owner, we intimated the security guards to keep an eye on her and check her bag when she left the premises."
When caught with the valuables, the family informed the police department and Nirmala was arrested.
"Nirmala's immediate reaction was to blame Preeti's father-in-law of sexually harrassing her and giving her the cash to keep shut," said Dharna Yadav, ACP and the investigating officer in the case. "The entire picture became clear after the medical test reports came in. She was lying."
"This family has never accused anyone of theft before this," said Sunita, the other maid at the Pandey household. "A while back, Nirmala asked me for help in depositing Rs 25,000 in a bank. It seemed a bit fishy to me, so I refused to help her. Soon after, I overheard her talking to someone at the agency, telling them to come and collect the money. I informed Preeti ma'am immediately."
The placement agency is allegedly running a racket, where it fleeces girls from villages and remote areas and gets them involved in crime and theft in the city.
“We have registered an FIR against Nirmala and Tanvi [name changed], the owner of the placement agency, under sections 381 and 120B for cheating, fraud and robbery," said ACP Yadav. "Our investigations revealed that Nirmala had been arrested for stealing earlier as well."
