JAIPUR: The affluent localities in Vaishali Nagar, Chitrakoot and Harmada have one of the most expensive and state-of-the art residential security and alarm systems, but only a few residents have carried out police verification of their drivers, servants and tenants.
In Friday’s gruesome incident, inside a Chitrakoot apartment where a 68-year-old woman was assaulted for loot by her servant Subhash, the police later found that no verification was conducted by the family.
Commissioner of police, Anand Srivastava told TOI that despite several such similar incidents, many people have not carried out police verification of people who work in their houses. “We have made verification as easy as possible for people. Rajasthan police website has a separate verification page where people can feed the details of their servant, maid or driver and we will verify and inform them. Yet, many people have not taken even the most basic of the security precautions,” he said, adding that when the domestic helps are found to be involved in crimes akin to the one reported in Chitrakoot, the police have a hard task to track down the accused’s whereabouts. Two beat constables of Vaishali Nagar and Chitrakoot police stations told TOI that a few days ago, after the new beat book was introduced by DGP Kapil Garg, they went to several houses and colonies and found something was amiss.
“I was startled to find each house covered with multiple CCTVs, movement sensors, security alarms and digital locks, including video intercoms on main doors of houses. But only a few had conducted verification of their babysitters, maids, drivers etc,” the constable told TOI, adding that many of these houses have elderly persons who live alone and rely on outsiders for everyday help.
On July 19, 2018 when a domestic maid ‘Priya Sahoo’ robbed an elderly couple in Gopal Pura, the Shipra Path police found out that the accused’s real name was Parveena. The family had not carried out her verification before hiring her from a placement agency. In weeks following the Gopal Pura incident, the Jaipur police conducted a survey and found that there were are about 100 placement agencies in the city that provide house keepers, drivers, maids and guards. According to the police, many of these agencies hire servants from far away states like West Bengal, and foreign countries like Nepal. But most of these agencies had not conducted any proper background check of their servants.
Jaipur police say service agencies and their customers must carry out police verification before hiring maids.