Employer' flees with girl's gold

KOLKATA: A man, claiming to be the owner of an automobile showroom in Baguiati, allegedly duped a 21-year-old girl from Liluah's Chowkpara by promising her a job as an office attendant. Riya Dey, the victim, lodged a complaint with Baguiati police after the man, who identified himself as Anand Sharma, allegedly fled with a box containing her mother's jewellery.
Police are conducting raids to nab this man. Investigations, so far, have revealed that he did not own the showroom and had faked his identity. Police have learnt his real identity from entries he made to book an interview room at a Baguiati hotel where Riya's "final interview" was held. The hotel authorities had asked him to show his voter ID card before accepting the booking. Police are not yet disclosing the name, which had a New Delhi address. Police have also got hold of the man's photo from footage recorded in the hotel's closed-circuit television.
Riya, a final-year BSc student, had placed a job advertisement for herself in a tabloid's Situations Wanted' section. A man, who identified himself as Anand Sharma, called her up and asked her to meet him at the automobile showroom in Baguiati, which he claimed to own. This meeting took place a week ago. Sharma spoke to her standing outside the showroom. He called her again on Tuesday (November 24) and asked her to meet him near the showroom on Thursday with her original certificates and marksheets, saying he would hire her at a monthly salary of Rs 10,000.
At the end of their second meeting on Thursday, Sharma asked Riya to meet him at a restaurant in Salt Lake's City Centre the next day. At this third meeting, he said that office parties are frequently held in the firm and told Riya that she would have to attend them well-decked in gold jewellery. He then asked her to meet him for her final interview with her mother's jewellery ostensibly to inspect them at a Baguiati hotel on Friday.
Riya went to the hotel with her mother's jewellery 70 gram of gold ornaments. After Sharma took a look and returned it to Riya, who went to the washroom leaving behind the jewellery box. On coming out of the washroom, she noticed that Sharma had fled with the jewellery box. Riya called her parents and headed to Baguiati police station.
A Baguiati officer said the man had duped others, as the hotel staff told them that he had booked interview rooms on their premises earlier, too. Police have learnt that he had dealings with the showroom he claimed to own. They, however, suspect he had duped the showroom as well, using a different name.