A jewellery theft at a house in New Alipore in October led police on a 18-day chase to Bihar, Delhi, Punjab, and Kulti near Asansol from where the loot was recovered and four people arrested.

Apart from the domestic help, Pawan Jadav, who had disappeared, along with the jewelleries, from Sunil Singh’s home on October 21, three days after he started work — the police have arrested his cousin Nitesh Yadav, Sunita Yadav, and Prem Bahadur Singh, in connection with the theft. Pawan, Nitesh and Sunita were arrested on Thursday and Prem a day before that.

Gold ornaments, bars and precious stones worth around Rs 19 lakh have been seized from a one-room hut in Kulti, the police said. Singh, a resident of Block M in New Alipore, had engaged Pawan on October 19. The same day, he collected a “servant’s profile form” from New Alipore police station. But before Singh could submit it, Pawan disappeared with the jewelleries on October 21. He apparently told Singh he did not have a mobile phone and that he hailed from Bihar’s Banka district.

The police started questioning some domestic helps in New Alipore and Bhowanipore, who hailed from the same district, and got hold of his photograph. A search revealed Pawan had been arrested by officers of Bidhannagar South police station in 2014 in connection with a theft from a house where he had been working as a domestic help.

Investigations showed he hailed from Baliamahar in Banka, the police said. A team reached the place and found his mother with his disabled brother at their home. His Aadhaar card had a mobile number, which his mother used. The call detail record of six months showed maximum calls had been made to Kameswar Yadav and Akhiles Yadav in Kulti, the police said. “In between, we came across one of his friends in New Alipore and found he had made several calls on October 18 and 19 to a person who was possibly in Entally,” an officer of New Alipore police station said. “A search led us to a mistaken identity in Entally.”

This person was finally identified as Nitesh Kumar Yadav in Delhi. Cops reached his Delhi address but found he had shifted to Panipat in Haryana two years ago.

A visit drew a blank. The police found he did not switch off his phone but did not make calls as well. He received calls from Prem Bahadur Singh in Kulti. The tower location of his phone showed Kulti, where calls had also been made from Pawan’s number.

A team reached Kulti and found Prem. He apparently told cops he was he was part of the group involved in the New Alipore theft and that Nitesh was Pawan’s cousin. One of the stolen gold chains was found on him, the police said. The two, according to Prem, often met Sunita Yadav, Kameswar’s wife, in Kulti.

The police then tracked down Pawan and Nitesh to Punjab. Based on their statements, the police arrested Sunita and Prem and seized the other ornaments from a hut in Kulti.