A woman and her daughter from B Udaiyur, a village in Cuddalore district, on Wednesday received the prestigious Kalpana Chawla award for courage and daring enterprise from Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa during the Independence Day celebrations at Fort St George here. The CM also presented gold medals and an award of Rs 5 lakh to D Rajalakshmi, the mother, and her daughter D Shivaranjani.
Giving an account of what had happened on that day, Rajalakshmi and Shivaranjani said two robbers entered their grocery shop and house, located next to it, on February 29. While one of them looted the cash in the grocery shop, another entered the house and attempted to snatch away the jewels from the women.
But Rajalakshmi attacked the robbers with a spade and when one lost his balance, with the help of Shivarajani, he was overpowered. On hearing the alarm raised them, neighbours rushed in and caught the robber and later, police arrested him.