Caretaker hooked to online betting steals gold, silver worth lakhs from employer’s house, arrested

BENGALURU: A woman, who was working as a caretaker for an elderly woman, has been arrested for stealing gold and silver articles worth lakhs from her employer’s house in JP Nagar. The police have recovered 450 grams of gold and 3 kg of silver from the accused who is now lodged in the Parappana Agrahara central prison.

The accused Mangala, who was working as a caretaker for Asha Jadhav (58), who has no children, but had treated Mangala like her own daughter and had taken care of her. Asha Jadhav’s husband had passed away and she had inherited huge property worth crores of rupees in JP Nagar.

Mangala had been working with Asha Jadhav for 15 years and had gained her trust. Asha Jadhav had even written a will transferring ownership of her current residence, worth Rs 5 crore, to Mangala’s name. However, Mangala was addicted to online betting. She had accumulated a huge debt of Rs 40 lakhs, which Asha Jadhav had paid off. Asha Jadhav had also transferred ownership of another house worth Rs 1.5 crore to Mangala’s name.

Despite this, Mangala continued to indulge in online betting and eventually stole 450 grams of gold and 3 kg of silver from Asha Jadhav’s house. She used the original key to open the safe locker, took out the gold and silver, and then threw away the key in a deserted area to make it look like a theft by an unknown person.

When Asha Jadhav discovered the theft, she lodged a complaint with the police, suspecting unknown persons.

However, the police investigation revealed that Mangala was involved in the crime. The police found that Mangala had pawned the stolen gold and silver and had lost the money in online betting. When confronted, Mangala confessed to the crime.

Despite Asha Jadhav’s pleas to release Mangala, saying she was like her own daughter and asking the police to forgive her, the police arrested Mangala and recovered the stolen gold and silver. Asha Jadhav has since taken back the will she had written in Mangala’s favour.

Asha Jadhav had been celebrating Mangala’s birthday in grand style, taking her to different countries, and had even planned to marry her off to a suitable groom.