A 36-year-old woman from Madurai who snatched the gold chain of a shopkeeper at Rathinapuri here on Friday was nabbed by members of the public.
The woman was identified as S. Thavamani alias Deivanathi of Attukulam village near Melur in Madurai district.
A video of Thavamani snatching the woman shopkeeper’s chain has gone viral on social media.
The police said that Thavamani visited the stationery shop run by C. Selvarani (57) of Ranganna Gounder Street in Rathinapuri around 2 p.m. on Friday. Ms. Selvarani was alone at the shop. Thavamani bought a gift piece from the store and asked Ms. Selvarani to gift-wrap it.
As Ms. Selvarani was gift-wrapping the purchase, Thavamani sprayed an insecticide on her face and snatched her chain.
Ms. Selvarani raised an alarm and held onto Thavamani’s leg as the latter pushed her and tried to get away. The fight was recorded in the surveillance camera of the store.
Though Thavamani managed to get out of the store with the chain, Ms. Selvarani followed her. Members of the public who were on the street caught Thavamani and handed over to the police.
The police recovered the stolen chain from Thavamani who was earlier booked for a similar offence in Tiruppur district.
