She escaped with Rs 10,000, while the complainant also paid Rs 15,000 advance and Rs 25,000 to the agency in New DelhiHiring a maid through a domestic help service in New Delhi proved to be horribly wrong for a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) scientist’s family in Bengaluru. The maid has escaped with cash and other valuables three days after she first reported for work at the family’s home in an apartment complex in Kaggadasapura. Since then the family has repeatedly contacted the domestic help service to trace the maid, but without any success.The incident took place a few days ago at Sai Mitra Meadows in Kaggadasapura, where the scientist, Keshari Kumar, lived along with his family. The maid, identified as Aarti Pandit, a native of Dungri Village in West Bengal, had hoodwinked the scientist’s aged parents and escaped with the stolen valuables. Kumar’s wife, Smriti Kumari, who works in a multinational bank has filed a complaint with the Baiyappanahalli police. The accused was hired through ‘Savita Domestic Help Services’, a domestic help agency based in New Delhi.“It appears that the agency was fraudulent. After the incident, the company’s details were not available online when I checked for it. The agency’s phone number was obtained from a search engine. We are natives of Bihar and have been staying in Bengaluru since 2004. The accused has escaped with the cash when my husband and I were at work and my parents-in-law were at home. We recently moved to this apartment. We wanted to introduce her to the security guard, but decided to wait for a while as she had started work only three days ago. If the guards were aware about her, they would have stopped her when she was leaving the apartment complex,” Smriti Kumari told Bangalore Mirror.The woman escaped with Rs 10,000 in cash and the complainant suspects that she has stolen something more. Smriti’s in-laws had called and informed her that in the afternoon the maid left the house without informing anyone. After coming back from the office, Smriti checked the CCTV footage and found that the maid had left the house around 10.30 am in the morning.“We also paid a commission of Rs 25,000 to the agent and an advance salary of of Rs 15000 to the maid. We contacted the agency owner, Vikas Yadav, several times to find out if she had gone to her home or the agency office, but no information was given,” Smriti added.A case has been registered against Aarti Pandit under section 381 (theft by servant of property in possession of master) of the Indian Penal Code. The Baiyappanahalli police are investigating further.