VARKALA: In one terrifying robbery case reported from Varkala, a Nepali maid mixed additives in food, drugged all family members to ransack the house. The incident took place in ‘Lyme Villa’ in Elakamon Hariharapuram near Varkala.

Sridevi Amma (74), daughter-in-law Deepa and home nurse Sindhu were drugged by Sohila (28), a Nepali native, after adding liquor to chapati and kurma curry provided for dinner. The incident took place on Tuesday at 9 pm.

Janardhana Upadhyay (42) and Ramkumar (48), natives of Nepal, doubted to be involved in this crime were caught by locals and handed over to police later. The brain behind the robbery is Abhishek, Sohila’s neighbour who is staying in Puthur Kottarakkara. Sohila and other accused in the crime are at large.

Sridevi Amma's son Rajeev works in Bengaluru. At 10 pm, he called his wife, Deepa but the call went unattended. Rajeev then called the home nurse which also didn't help. He then informed relatives staying near his hometown to have a look at the house. When the relatives reached Lyme Villa, they were shocked to see the four-member gang running away.

Janardhana Upadhyay was found by the locals at 11 pm when his leg got stuck in the wire fence while he tried to jump a wall. 35,000 rupees and gold were recovered from his bag. Ram Kumar, who was hiding in the nearby area, was caught at 4 am by locals.

The residents of Lyme Villa were shifted to a private hospital in Kollam. Police will take their statements on Thursday. The total amount of cash and gold robbed will be calculated. Deepa is the principal of Sree Sethu Parvathi Bai Higher Secondary School in Kadakkavoor.

It was a relative who introduced Sohila to the family to specially take care of Sreedevi Amma. It was a Nepali family from Paravur that first recommended Sohila. She first came to work on January 8th. The gang broke the door in Deepas’ room to take away the valuables. The police said that those arrested were changing the names of their accomplices. During the interrogation of rural SP Kiran Narayanan, the accused admitted that the robbery was planned.

Varkala ASP Deepak Dhankhar is in charge of the investigation.