CHENNAI: A college student, who was working as a part-time caretaker at a bed-ridden elderly person's house, was arrested for allegedly swindling Rs 10 lakh using the man's ATM card and also stealing 17.5 sovereigns jewellery.

The arrested woman was identified as S Pachaiyammal (18) of Villupuram, who was engaged last year by M Kalavathy (74), a retired college professor, to take care of her bedridden husband at their home in Ashok Nagar.

After the man died, Pachaiyammal stopped coming to work. Her alleged crime came to light in February after Kalavathi's son, Senthil, who returned to Chennai from abroad and checked his father's bank account and found discrepancies.

Based on his complaint, the KK Nagar police registered a case and conducted investigations. Probe revealed that the elderly couple handed over their ATM cards and asked her to withdraw money from time to time. Kalavathi siphoned off money and also deleted the transaction messages from the elderly man's phone.

The team tracked and apprehended her from her relative's house and recovered over Rs 3.6 lakh from her. She was produced before a magistrate and remanded in judicial custody.