A newly appointed domestic help of an affluent cloth merchant stole diamond jewellery and some cash, including foreign exchange, from his employer’s Mandeville Gardens apartment on Wednesday.

By the time Narayan Chandra Jain’s family detected the theft, Pradip Yadav had flown the coop. Jain told police he knew nothing about Pradip’s antecedents except that the youth hailed from Madhubani district of Bihar.

“He does not even have the name of his domestic help’s village. We are sending a team to Madhubani to find out more about him,” the deputy commissioner of police (south), Rajesh Subarna, said.

Pradip had got the job on the recommendation of Jain’s next-door neighbour.

“Jain gave him a part of his monthly salary as advance. On Monday, Yadav again asked for Rs 1000, saying his wife had taken ill and he would have to send the money for her treatment. Jain turned down his request,” said an officer at Gariahat police station.

Around 1.30pm on Wednesday, Pradip told his employer that he would have to leave immediately for his village to see his wife.

“Jain’s family saw Pradip leave the apartment with the small handbag that he had brought with him,” another police officer said.

The theft was detected only when someone from the family opened the wardrobe in which the valuables and cash were kept. “The family found two diamond-studded bangles worth more than Rs 1 lakh missing along with Rs 10,000 and some US dollars. The Jains are scheduled to leave for the US later this month to meet relatives, and the dollars were meant for the trip,” the officer said.

People who recruit helps are required to submit their personal details to the police.

“We request people to inform us after engaging any help, but not many do that. Jain’s family neither has a photograph of Pradip nor details about his home in Bihar,” the officer said.