A man who worked at a Mumbai hotel had apparently won the trust of an elderly guest and moved to the city to work as her help at her Lake Town home where she lived alone.

The woman was found murdered and the house robbed a few days ago. Police have arrested the man from his home in Uttar Pradesh and recovered the stolen items and the woman’s mobile phone.

Dipa Mukherjee, 62, was found dead in her home on Bangur Avenue on July 21. The jewellery she had been wearing was missing and the cupboards were ransacked, the police said.

Relatives had found the decomposed body when they went to check on her after she did not respond to their calls.

“Tapas Mukherjee, the woman’s son, had lodged a complaint of murder against a man who was living in the house since June this year. According to his complaint, the victim had gone to Mumbai in 2019 and stayed in a hotel where she met a hotel boy. The same man came here and started living in the house from June 18 as a domestic help,” said an officer of Lake Town police station.

The police said they verified the son’s statement and found that a man named Dinesh Prasad, 35, was working in the Lake Town house.

The Bidhannagar police contacted the Mumbai hotel and got Prasad’s details, an officer said.

Based on investigation, the police conducted a raid in Shilhari in Budaun district of Uttar Pradesh and arrested Prasad.

He was produced before Budaun court and brought to Calcutta on transit remand.

“We have recovered the entire stolen booty and the victim’s mobile phone from his possession. He has been charged with murder and theft,” said an officer.

Prasad was produced before a Bidhannagar court on Saturday that remanded him in police custody.

Several incidents have been reported in the past where elderly people living alone have been robbed or killed by their help. “It is always advisable to submit details of the new domestic help at the local police station. Sometimes this acts as a deterrent to crime as the help would know that he or she would be caught in case they commit an offence as police already have the details. Or, if a crime is committed and the domestic help is a suspect, it always helps if the identity details of the house’s domestic help is readily available,” said a senior police officer.