Former caretaker held for defrauding elderly employer of over Rs 14 lakh in Dwarka

The Delhi Police have arrested a man from Rajasthan for allegedly defrauding an elderly woman of over Rs 14 lakh while working as her caretaker in southwest Delhi's Dwarka, an official said on Sunday.

The accused, identified as Deepak Kumar Saini (31), hails from Chokdi village in Rajasthan, he said.

According to the police, Manjusha Rani Gupta, a resident of Royal Residency in Dwarka, filed a complaint that her former caretaker had accessed her mobile phone without permission and transferred money from her bank account to his account using Paytm between January 30 and June 6.

Saini, who had been working in Gupta's house since March 2020, exploited his occasional access to her phone to install financial applications, retrieve OTPs, and carry out all unauthorised transactions without her knowledge, police said. He stole a total of Rs 14.35 lakh from Gupta's mobile phone.

During the investigation, the police identified the accused by analysing call records, customer application forms, bank transactions, and IP logs. "It was also discovered that he was involved in online gambling," the officer said.

According to the officer, Saini was arrested from Sikar, Rajasthan, and his mobile phone, containing evidence of the fraudulent transactions and gambling activity, was seized.

During interrogation, he told the police that he had lost most of the stolen money in gambling, while the remaining amount was spent in clubs and hotels.

Efforts are ongoing to trace and recover the defrauded amount, police said.