Pune: The Chatushrungi police late on Sunday night registered a case against seven people, including a recently recruited domestic help, on charges of criminal breach of trust and dacoity at dismissed IAS probationer Puja Khedkar’s bungalow in National Society on Baner Road late on Saturday night.Senior police inspector Uttam Bhajnavale of the Chatushrungi police said no one from the family came forward to lodge a complaint. The police suo motu registered a case under sections 310 (dacoity), 316 (criminal breach of trust), 306 (theft by clerk or servant of property in possession of master), 123 (causing hurt by means of poison with intent to commit an offence), 127 (wrongful confinement) and 351 (criminal intimidation) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).The police said the domestic help, appointed recently, was from Nepal and they suspect his accomplices were also from there. Senior inspector Bhajnavale said, “The Khedkar family had appointed the domestic help merely a few days ago. We only know his first name (Hikmatsingh). Teams from the Chatushrungi police and the crime branch have been fanned out to trace the suspects involved in the dacoity.”The police are yet to confirm the exact value of the items missing from Khedkar’s house because her parents are yet to record their statements. Assistant police inspector Narendra Patil, the investigating officer of the case, said, “We are yet to record the statements of the victims, who were drugged by the accused. They are undergoing treatment in a hospital.”The accused drugged Khedkar’s parents, and their driver, cook and the bungalow guard before stealing valuables from cupboards by breaking the locks. While they were inside, Khedkar reached home. The accused tied her hands with a ribbon. They threatened to kill her and forced her to sit in one of the rooms.“After the criminals left, Khedkar managed to free herself and alert the police. She refused to lodge a formal complaint until the recovery of her parents,” another officer from the Chatushrungi police said.
