A college lecturer who had hired a driver for a few hours lost her WagonR when she stepped out of the car to buy medicines at a shop in Patuli.

Investigations showed the “car agency” owner who had supplied the driver had neither seen the person nor collected any of his details, which might have helped cops track him down, police said.

The woman lost her laptop and bag containing her ATM cards and some money, along with the car.

Cops tracked the driver down through the tower location of his mobile phone and arrested him in Salar, about 170km from Calcutta in Murshidabad, on Thursday.

He has been identified as Sarfaraz Hussain, a Beckbagan resident.

Somrita Chakraborty, a resident of Usha Park, Harisabha Math, in Brahmapur had booked the driver on Wednesday.

When she returned after buying the medicines, she found her car gone and the phone on which she had contacted him earlier switched off, the police said.

She later lodged a complaint with Patuli police station.

“The owner of Garia Car centre from where the family had hired the driver said he had never seen the driver nor had he any clue about his whereabouts,” an officer of Patuli police station said. “The centre does not even have an office. The complainant got to know of it by word of mouth.”

The woman’s laptop and bag have been seized. Hussain has told cops he had kept the car in the Kalikapur area, the police said.

He has been booked for criminal breach of trust.

People who do not know driving often hire a driver. This option helps people travel in the safety of their own vehicles, more so during the pandemic, many officers said.