A nurse, who sedated an elderly couple in Hyderabad with a fake Covid vaccine and stole 80 grams of gold jewelry from them, has been arrested, police said Monday.
The incident took place in Lalitha Nagar on Saturday below the boundaries of the Rachakonda Police Commissioner’s Meerpet Police Station.
The accused Anusha was arrested on Sunday, within hours of the couple filing a complaint with the police.
K. Laxman, 80, a retired government employee, and his wife Kasturi, 70, complained to police on Saturday night that the nurse had cheated on them in the name of the Covid vaccine.
Anusha, who is taking an assistant nurse midwife (ANM) course at a private school and previously a tenant near Laxman’s home, approached the couple with an offer to arrange for them to get Covid vaccine doses. When they agreed to take it, she came to their house at 3 p.m. on Saturday and administered a dose to Laxman and Kasturi each.
“Before she gave the shot, she told us we’ll be sleepy for a while. We don’t know what happened next, but when we woke up late in the evening we found out we were robbed,” Kasturi said.
Kasturi realized that her mangalsutra, gold ring, hoop earrings and toe rings, each weighing about eight tolas, were missing.
The couple immediately approached the Meerpet police station and filed a complaint. The police took up the investigation and cracked the case with the arrest of Anusha.
Police investigation revealed that Anusha and her husband knew the victims because they used to live in their neighborhood of rent. The young couple later moved to another area.
The accused and her husband reportedly had financial problems and she decided to attack the old couple because they lived alone.
Police have advised people not to believe those who promise to regulate the Covid vaccine, since the vaccine is not available on the open market and only the health authorities are empowered to administer the vaccine. At this stage, the vaccine is only given to health professionals and frontline workers from different departments dealing with the pandemic.
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