HYDERABAD: The police have arrested a housemaid, who robbed an old woman after pouring Harpic into her eyes. The shocking incident took place in the Nacharam complex in Secunderabad. Hemvati, a 73-year-old woman living alone, was the victim of her maid’s cruelty. Money and gold were stolen from the house.

Hemvati’s son is living in London. He had assigned 32-year-old Bhargavi to take care of his mother. Subsequently, Bhargavi started living in Hemvati’s flat with her seven-year-old daughter. Bhargavi, who realized that there were valuables in the flat, waited for an opportunity to steal them. Recently, Hemvati asked Bhargavi to give her some eye medicine as her eyes were itching. Finding an opportunity, she mixed bathroom cleaner Harpic with Zandu balm in water and poured it into the woman’s eyes. Soon, the woman developed an eye infection. Bhargavi kept pouring the Harpic liquid into Hemvati’s eyes, presenting it as a remedy.

As her eye sight began to fade, Hemvati informed her son of the matter. Soon, he rushed her to a hospital, but the reason for the infection and poor eyesight could not be figured out. She was then shifted to another hospital for detailed examination. There the doctors told that the cause of blindness was the pouring of some poisonous solution into the eyes. The woman told her son that the maid used to pour medicine in her eyes. After this the family suspected Bhargavi and lodged a police complaint. On police interrogation, she confessed everything.

Bhargavi confessed to the police that she had stolen Rs 40,000, several gold bracelets and a gold necklace from the house. The police have not fully believed her statement. Investigation is proceeding to find out whether she had an accomplice.