NEW DELHI – The doctor couple accused of locking up and starving a 13-year-old maid while vacationing in Thailand all of last week, was finally arrested on Wednesday near the Lifestyle Mall in Rajouri Garden, west Delhi.
While an Interpol lookout notice had been issued against the accused, doctors Sanjay and Sumita Verma, sources said the two reached the city in March 30. They have been spending nights at parking lots of malls and gurdwaras, cops said.
According to highly placed sources, the couple managed to land in Delhi from Thailand unnoticed, a day after the case had come to light. This was because no case had been registered till late Friday evening. The police deputed teams at the airport only after the case was registered.
“They arrived by an IndiGo flight at 3.30pm on Friday. Since the cops were waiting for the Child Welfare Committee’s order for registration of a case, policemen were deputed only on Friday night,” said a senior police official.
Meanwhile, police found no CCTV cameras at the couple’s Dwarka home, where the maid had been locked up. The girl had said that the couple had told her maid before leaving for Thailand that cameras had been placed in the house to monitor her movements.
The owner of the placement agency that had provided the maid to the couple, has brought the minor girl’s uncle and mother to the capital from Jharkhand. The uncle has reportedly told the police that he had sent the girl to Delhi so that she had a “decent job”.
Cops say after being arrested the couple was produced in a Dwarka district court, where police asked for a two-day remand. It was granted. The arrest came a day after the court had rejected the couple’s anticipatory bail application.
“We had received a tip-off about their whereabouts after which the teams moved in to arrest the couple,” said additional commissioner of police (south-west) A K Ojha. Cops say the arrest took place around 2.30pm.
