BENGALURU: In a broad daylight robbery incident, two masked men barged into a house and stabbed an elderly woman to snatch her gold chain in Pattegarapalya near Vijayanagar on Monday afternoon.
The neighbours who heard the commotion rushed to see what happened and found the victim Lakshmidevamma bleeding due to the stab wounds in her neck and stomach. They took her to a private hospital where she is recovering.
The victim, Lakshmidevamma (68), a resident of Pattegarapalya, is a landlord and is living with her grandson, a PU student. Her husband Rajanna had passed away eight months ago due to illness.
A senior police officer said, around 12.30pm, Lakshmidevamma was alone in the house on the first floor while her grandson Vinaykumar had gone to college. Two masked men went inside as the door was partially open and threatened her at knife-point to snatch her gold chain and bangles.
As she resisted them, one of the accused stabbed her in her stomach and neck and robbed her valuables before fleeing from the scene. Soon, she managed to come out and scream for help. The neigbours who run shops on the ground floor noticed her and took her to a nearby hospital by carrying her in a bedspread. Her condition is stable now. Police is yet to take her statement about the incident.
“Soon after the incident, senior officials inspected the crime spot and formed three special teams to nab the accused. Police obtained CCTV footage to ascertain the identity of the vehicle used by the miscreants. It is suspected that people behind the robbery were aware that she would be alone during daytime, knew that she has six commercial shops and was leading a life on rent from the shop owners. A suspected couple has been detained for interrogation,” the officer said.
“Lakshmidevamma has two daughters Shashi and Shobha and a son Umesh Kumar who live in a neighbouring area. She had asked Umesh to stay with her after her husband’s death. But he had denied it and Shobha’s son Vinaykumar was asked to live with her. Miscreants who took advantage of this seem to have hatched a robbery plot. However, no one noticed the miscreants when they went to the first floor and even during their escape,” Vijaynagar police said.
Mohan B K, an auto driver told The New Indian Express, “The woman was waving her hands from the first floor and screaming. I alerted her tenant who runs a jewellery shop in the same building. About five people rushed to her help and brought her down in a bedspread to take her to a nearby hospital. Meanwhile, police rushed to the spot after which an ambulance took her to the hospital. The residents also did not observe the movements of the miscreants as the incident came to light only after 15-20 minutes.”