A nurse, who sedated an old couple in Hyderabad with a fake Covid vaccine shot and stole 80 grams of gold jewellery from them, has been arrested, police said on Monday.
The incident occurred at Lalitha Nagar under Meerpet police station limits of Rachakonda police commissionerate on Saturday.
Accused Anusha was arrested on Sunday, within hours of the couple lodging a police complaint.
K. Laxman (80), a retired government employee and his wife Kasturi (70) complained to police on Saturday night that the nurse duped them in the name of Covid vaccine.
Anusha, who is undergoing an auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM) course at a private college and earlier used to be a tenant near Laxman's house, approached the couple with an offer to arrange Covid vaccine doses for them. When they agreed to take it, she came to their house on Saturday at 3 p.m. and administered one dose each to Laxman and Kasturi.
"Before giving the jab, she told us that we will be drowsy for some time. We don't know what happened after that but when we woke up late in the evening, we found that we have been robbed," Kasturi said.
Kasturi realized that her mangalsutra, gold ring, ear rings and toe rings, all weighing about eight tolas, were missing.
The couple immediately approached Meerpet police station and lodged a complaint. Police took up the investigation and cracked the case with the arrest of Anusha.
Police investigations revealed that Anusha and her husband knew the victims as they used to live on rent in their neighbourhood. The young couple later shifted to another area.
The accused and her husband were reportedly facing financial problems and she decided to target the old couple as they were living alone.
Police have advised people not to believe those who promise to arrange Covid vaccine as the vaccine is not available in open market and only the health authorities are authorised to administer the vaccine. At this stage the vaccine is being given only to healthcare workers and frontline workers of various departments tackling the pandemic.