Mumbai: A 25-year-old cook, Santosh Gaud, was arrested by Khar police after allegedly stealing ₹7.5 lakh from his employer's Mumbai flat and using part of the money to book return flights to Uttar Pradesh. Police said he distributed the remaining cash across Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand. Gaud was arrested when he returned to Mumbai around midnight on October 1.

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The police said that Gaud had worked for garment businessman Chetan Chandan for five years and knew exactly where cash was kept. Chandan stored money in a wardrobe, the third drawer held the cash, its key was in the second, and that drawer's key was in the first.



On September 25, Gaud arrived at 12:45 pm to cook. After serving lunch at 2 pm, he slipped away without informing anyone. By 5 pm, Chandan found the key missing, and ₹7.5 lakh gone from the ₹13 lakh kept there.

CCTV footage showed Gaud with a bulky trouser pocket, holding his bag to hide it. He allegedly spent ₹25,000 on his first-ever flight journey and ₹20,000 on food and boarding.



Investigators traced his locations through technical analysis and recovered ₹7.05 lakh. Gaud was arrested when he returned to Mumbai around midnight on October 1. He had falsely told Chandan he was in Alibag, then Jharkhand. A theft case was registered, and police found he had carefully studied the employer's drawer-key system to pull off the theft.