In a daring robbery, three unidentified persons entered the house of an elderly couple on the busy North Marret Street and robbed them of around 24 sovereigns of gold and diamond jewellery after inflicting bleeding injuries on them on Saturday night.
When the knife-wielding robbers inflicted bleeding injuries on the left hand and abdomen of L. Varadarajan (76), they tore both the ear lobes of his wife Vijayalakshmi (65) while trying to remove her diamond studs. The couple were sitting in the hall, leaving the grille gate closed, but not locked. Three men, two of them masked, entered the hall before locking the wooden door in between. “After snapping the telephone wire, they brandished knives and snatched the diamond rings from me. In the melee, I sustained bleeding injuries on my fingers and abdomen,” Mr. Varadarajan, who is no more actively involved in pawn brokering, said.
The robbers, one sporting pants, and two others lungis, then pushed the woman down on the floor and yanked the diamond studs, gold chain and three pairs of bangles, leaving her writhing in pain. Later, they tied the man to a chair, using a sari. “All this happened within five to six minutes. Later, they fled through the rear door that opens into North Veli Street,” he said.
The couple later alerted their neighbour who informed the police.
The police sources said that CCTV footage from neighbouring shops showed that the robbers were waiting outside the house for sometime before striking at the house. Vilakkuthoon police are investigating.
At Iyer Bungalow
Meanwhile, in another incident reported at Iyer Bungalow, a 68-year-old woman, R. Logambal, was robbed at knifepoint of her six-sovereign gold chain on Saturday morning.
Police said the lone woman was approached by the accused who told her that he had come to collect firewood at her house as per her husband’s permission. When the woman allowed him in, he pulled out a knife and snatched the gold chain.
However, the police arrested one K. Gurunathan (48) of Tiruppalai and recovered the gold. He was later remanded.
