Three unidentified persons barged into a house and robbed a pair of earrings weighing 10 sovereigns from a septuagenarian woman by chopping off her ear in Uranganpatti near here on Sunday.
Police said the victim, Karuppayi (75) and her husband Sankili Servai of Uranganpatti near Madurai-Sivagangai Road were sleeping in the hall of her house on Sunday night.
Meanwhile, three unidentified persons barged into house by opening the grill gate, which was not locked. The trio then tied Karuppayi to the cot and asked her to give the earrings. As she refused, one of them gagged her mouth, the other two chopped off her ear and decamped with the earrings.
Later, the woman was admitted to a hospital. Following a complaint from Sankili Servai, Othakadai Police registered a case. Forensic experts, who visited the spot, lifted fingerprints from the cot and the grill gate.
Police said that the elderly couple never used to lock the grill gate as they regularly slept at the entrance of the house. The accused, who might be either relatives of the victim or persons known to the family, must have been aware of this fact and easily gained entry into the house.