CHENNAI: A day after a masked man robbed a home-alone woman of chain and earring in an apartment at Peravallur, hardly 300 metres from the police station, and escaped, the police arrested the suspect on Thursday.
The victim suffered injuries as the robber pulled her earrings and locked her up in the bedroom. “At around 5.45 pm on Wednesday, when my mother Kasturi (56) kept the main door and grill gate open and was doing pooja, a middle-aged man wearing a scarf and a helmet rang the bell and barged inside. He snatched a six-sovereign chain from my mother and pulled her right earring,” said G Rajasekaran, son of the victim.
“He then pushed her inside the bedroom and locked the door. Hearing her cries, neighbours spotted a man walk out of the apartment complex with a helmet, but mistook him for a resident. They rushed to the second floor to rescue my mother,” he added. Kasutri, who had her ear injured, was rushed to the hospital. A complaint was lodged with the Peravallur police who registered a case.
On Thursday morning, police nabbed the suspect Rajesh (27) who was found along with his friend at Retri. An investigation revealed that Rajesh had two chain-snatching cases registered against him and adopted the same modus operandi in robberies.
A resident in the apartment said that last week, a similar man walked into the apartment with a helmet asking an elderly woman for an address. “Luckily, the woman did not open the door and did not respond to him immediately,” the resident said.