A woman who allegedly stole gold jewellery from her employer’s home in Kasba Bosepukur a few months ago was arrested in a village in Gosaba, around 90km from the city, on Friday.
Police changed three steamers to go from one island to another in the Sunderbans to reach the woman’s home.
The police said they had initially faced a dead-end in the investigation when they found that the woman had not submitted any identity documents to the employer and the SIM card she was using was registered in someone else’s name.
“Her phone was switched off since she went missing with the valuables and there was no clue about her address,” said an officer.
Almost two months after the theft, when the woman switched her phone on, she was tracked down using the phone’s tower location in a remote village in the Sunderbans, an officer said.
Pampa Routh, 28, had been engaged as a help in a house at Kasba Bosepukur in December 2020, the police said.
In July this year, she had stopped going to work and her phone was switched off. Her employers found some gold ornaments and an “expensive blue gown” missing from the house and informed the police.
“When the case was reported, there was no information about the woman except a photograph. She had not submitted any identity documents with her employer and the phone number she was using had its SIM card registered in a Bhowanipore address whose physical existence could not be verified,” said an officer.
On September 1, the police found that the phone had been switched on. “Her phone location was tracked in Gosaba. We sought the assistance of Gosaba police and a team of officers went from Kasba police station for the raid,” said deputy commissioner (south suburban division) Rashid Munir Khan.
The Kasba team reached Gosaba police station after a steamer ride from Godkhali, an island in the Sunderbans. From Gosaba, they took another steamer ride to reach Botkhali in Chandipur, the police said.
The woman was arrested in Chandipur. Most of the stolen booty has been recovered except the blue gown the complainant had reported missing, an officer said.