Woman attacked, jewellery stolen in daylight robbery

By S. Shivakumar

CHENNAI, JULY 11. Masked bandits entered the house of a section officer of Madras University at Second Main Road, Vijaya Nagar in Velacheri, attacked the woman inmate and escaped with cash and valuables on Tuesday afternoon. The incident has rudely shaken the residential colony.

The victim, Mrs. Shanmughavalli (45), suffered injuries on her head, leg and back.

A visibly shaken Mrs. Shanmughavalli said she had fought with the three-member gang for 30 minutes but they managed to escape with the valuables as no one came to her rescue.

Narrating the sequence of events, she said ``an autorickshaw came and stood in front of my house. The gate and main door were open as construction work is in progress on the first floor. Though I was alone in the house, thinking they were also casual labourers who came for work, I did not pay much attention to them.

``To my shock they suddenly barged into my house and whipped out hidden knives. They closed the main door and windows. They covered their faces with handkerchiefs. When one of the gang members kept a knife near my neck, I screamed for help hoping to alert neighbours or the workers who were on the first floor. However, no one came to my rescue. The gang attacked me on my head and warned me not to scream for help. They then attempted to raise the volume of the television, but did not know how to operate the remote control.

``They directed me to increase the volume of the television. Hoping that if the volume is increased some neighbour might come and enquire, I raised the volume to the maximum. However, even this ploy did not evoke any response from the neighbours or the constructions workers.

``They attacked me repeatedly when I said that the almirah keys were with my husband. After a vain attempt to break open the almirah, they forcibly removed the ornaments on my person which weighed about 10 sovereigns and escaped in the waiting autorickshaw around 2 p.m. after being in the house for about 30 minutes'', she said.

The same gang is suspected to have struck in another house at Ravi Street in Seethalakshmi Nagar in Velacheri a little later.

According to local residents, the gang gained entry into the house of Mr. John and took away about Rs. 5,000 in cash and some valuables.

The gang members forced the inmates into a room and locked it from outside. However, there was a rear entrance for the room and the inmates managed to escape from the house and they screamed for help.

The intruders panicked and fled the scene with the booty.

In an earlier incident, a four-member gang entered a house at Second Main Road in Vijaya Nagar posing as TNEB employees and robbed the inmates of Rs. 9,000, according to police.

A special team has been formed to trace the culprits.

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