The caretaker of a house in Salt Lake’s BE block has been arrested for allegedly stealing cash, bottles of liquor and paint drums from three houses in the same block.

Police said Subhendu Bauria, the caretaker of BE 54 had targeted at least three houses in the same block over the past week.

Bauria was arrested from his third-floor room of the BE Block house after the cops scanned a CCTV camera footage installed on a house opposite BE 113 from where he had allegedly lifted liquor bottles, paint cans and a personal weighing scale, an officer of Bidhannagar Commissionerate said.

Bauria had allegedly first entered BE 229 early on Sunday scaling the rainwater drainpipe to the roof of the two-storey building and entered a room on the roof whose door was left open.

“He then took Rs 60,000 kept inside a briefcase that had the key right next to it before going downstairs and taking a wallet,” said the officer.

Sudipto Roy stays with his wife and daughter on the ground floor of the building.

Roy’s brother Sumit lives with his wife, son and his daughter-in-law on the first floor of the building.

“All of us were in the house except my daughter. The room on the roof is occupied by one of my acquaintances. He raised the alarm after he noticed that the briefcase was open and the cash was missing. When we checked I found that my wallet had also not there,” Sudipto said.

An officer said Bauria then went into BE 113 through an open window on the stairwell.

From there bottles of liquor, juice cartons, several paint bottles, which owner Tapas Piplai had kept as house repair work was on, went missing, the officer said.

A few days later the owner another house — BE 119 — found that some cash was missing from the house. He and the others filed police complaints.

During questioning, Bauria revealed that the owner of the house where he was employed as a caretaker had passed away. His wife, too, is no more, the officer added. “He told us that he had fallen under extreme financial trouble as his salary had stopped.”

The police have recovered some of the stolen items and cash.

Bauria has been charged under section 379 (theft) of the Indian Penal Code.

If proven guilty after a trial Bauria can be sent to jail for three years. He was produced before a court in Salt Lake that sent him to police custody.

Stolen and returned

A gearless scooter that was parked on the driveway of a CF Block house was stolen on June 27.

Owner Mousumi Chatterjee had lodged a complaint at Bidhannagar North police station after she noticed that the scooty had gone missing.

According to the complaint, CCTV footage from a camera installed on a wall of the house caught a man walking the scooter out.

However, Chatterjee spotted the scooty parked outside her house on Friday morning.

“We again checked the footage and spotted two men parking it before walking away. We tracked the men down and have arrested them,” an officer of Bidhannagar Commissionerate said.