A 30-year-old employee of a mobile store near City Centre Salt Lake has been arrested for allegedly clearing out an octogenarian’s bank account and using the money to buy gold on e-commerce websites, police said.

Sheikh Abul Hayet Hamidul Kader allegedly used Jati Ranjan Banik’s debit card and PIN to buy gold worth Rs 3 lakh online when the 86-year-old resident of Salt Lake went to the store to pay his bill, an officer of the Bidhannagar commissionerate said.

Kader, originally from Hooghly, was picked up from his home by a team of the Salt Lake cyber crime police late on Saturday on the basis of a complaint lodged by Banik.

Banik, an AD block resident, had been visiting the store for the past nine months to pay his cellphone bill and on each occasion Kader would help him make the payment using his debit card, the officer said.

“Banik would hand over the cellphone and his debit card to Kader and even share the PIN with him. Kader would then swipe the card and make the payment. This continued for several months,” the officer said.

Kader allegedly told police during interrogation that he saw an opportunity to make easy money once he realised that Banik had started trusting him.

On Banik’s last visit to the shop, Kader took his debit card and cellphone as usual but instead of paying the bill he bought gold online, police said.

“Kader bought the gold in several transactions through at least two websites. He not only had Banik’s debit card details and PIN but could also access the one-time password on his phone. He then carefully deleted all the SMS alerts from Banik’s phone before handing it back to him,” the officer said.

Kader has been charged under several sections of the IPC, including 420 (cheating). If proved guilty, he can be sent to jail for seven years.

He was produced in a Salt Lake court on Sunday and remanded in five days’ police custody.