A youth, identified as Rajesh Nayak, has been arrested in an Orissa village on charges of robbing jewellery worth more Rs 2 lakh from a house in Puddapukur.

Police said the valuables were looted from Kunal Kapasi’s apartment on October 24 while he was away.

“Kapasi’s mother Hansadevi and his wife were in the apartment when Rajesh turned up and offered to work as a help. The two asked Rajesh to clean the bathroom attached to a bedroom,” said Jawed Shamim, the deputy commissioner of police (south).

The two women were in the drawing room, watching television. Suddenly, they heard a sound in the bedroom and rushed there. “They found the almirah open. Two bangles, one necklace and a pair of earrings were missing. Raju was then in the bathroom,” said an officer of Bhowanipore police station.

Hansadevi called Raju, but while she was about to frisk him, he pushed her and ran away. Another domestic help in the building told the police that Rajesh was from a village close to his ancestral home at Jamdipatua, in Orissa.

A team of officers soon left for the village.