Kolkata Police increases surveillance on domestic helps after killing of elderly woman

Kolkata, August 24 (IANS) After the arrest of a nursemaid and her husband in connection with the murder of an elderly woman in New Garia of West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district recently, the Kolkata Police have decided to tighten the security of senior citizens people living in and around the city.

As part of its measure, Kolkata Police is sending special forms to police stations to verify information regarding nannies, nursemaid, maid servants and drivers who are hired by such people.

Apart from this, the police will also collect information about tenants of various houses.

The special form planned by the Kolkata police will have a place to collect information about nannies, maids, drivers and tenants.

It is not yet clear how the police stations will collect this information from house to house.

However, this form could be especially important for those who live alone at home.

A senior police officer said on Sunday that a meeting in this regard was held on Saturday evening chaired by Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Kumar Verma.

"We have discussed the matter in detail. How can the common man share the information of nannies, servants, tenants with us, how can we verify that information in a timely manner, we have discussed all this. Everything will be announced soon," Verma said.

At present, there is a system in the police station to verify the information of house servants.

If any person wants, they can submit the information and documents of the servant to the police.

However, after the New Garia incident in Kolkata, the issue of nursemaid has also come under the scanner.

Usually nursemaid are appointed to look after sick or elderly citizens.

There is a special project called 'Pranam' on the Kolkata Police website for the convenience of elderly citizens.

According to the police, surveillance may be increased further from now onwards.

On Saturday, a nursemaid and her husband have been arrested by the police for murdering an elderly woman in Panchasayar police station area of New Garia, in the southern outskirts of Kolkata.

According to the police, the name of the arrested nursemaid is Ashalata Sardar.

She is 36-years-old and her husband Mohammad Jalal Mir (41).

The two had conspired to snatch the property of the elderly couple in absence of their children who live outside Bengal.

The police recovered the elderly woman's jewellery from them.

The nursemaid was hired from a nearby aaya centre a few days ago.

Both the nursemaid and her husband have been sent to 12 days of police custody.

--IANS

sch/khz