Chennai,  A sanitary worker, who allegedly sexually assaulted a woman patient at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, was arrested on Monday, police said.

The 49-year-old woman said she was recovering after surgery for a kidney ailment at the hospital when accused Pazhani entered her room on June 30 under the guise of cleaning it and sexually assaulted her.

The woman, who was accompanied only by her 11-year-old daughter at the hospital, subsequently informed the nurses, who lodged a police complaint.

Pazhani was arrested from his residence at Triplicane.

Charged under Sections 354 of the IPC for outraging a woman's modesty and also relevant sections of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Woman Act, 1998, he was produced before a court which sent him to judicial custody.

Police said that Pazhani was eying the woman for several days and found that other than the 11-year-old daughter, no other relatives were there with her.