A 36-year-old housewife resisted a youth who attempted to snatch her 10-sovereign gold chain near Vilakkuthoon on Monday morning. He was subsequently overpowered and apprehended with the help of the public.
The police said that the youth, sporting half-trousers and T-shirt, had approached S. Prabhavathi while she was cleaning the area in front of her house on Lakshipuram first street at 6.20 a.m. Feigning injury to his leg, he sought water to wash his wound.
As the woman approached, he lunged at her and tried to yank the chain around her neck. But she clung to it even as the youth struck at her. She was pushed to the ground by the assailant who then brandished a knife.
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The woman used a bucket to defend herself against her attacker, who tried to flee when she raised an alarm.
He was caught by passersby and handed over to police.
The youth hailed from Keeraithurai and was a Class XI student in a local school.
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The incident comes close on the heels of the recent arrest of students of a polytechnic college in connection with a series of chain-snatching incidents.