COIMBATORE: A home-alone 15-year-old girl, who was robbed at knife-point by a masked man and locked up in the toilet, acted bravely and helped police locate the burglar.
Police said G Raja (41) lives with his family at Boyampalayam in Tiruppur city and runs a bakery in the locality. Around noon on Tuesday, when the girl was alone in the home due to half-yearly school vacation, a youth with his face covered barged in.
As soon as she saw the intruder, the girl raised an alarm, but he assaulted her. In return, the girl also attacked him. Stunned by her response, the man gagged the girl and locked her inside the bathroom after snatching away her one sovereign chain at knife-point.
Unfazed, the girl broke open the lock and came out and alerted her father. He informed police and rushed to the residence.
Meanwhile, people in the locality caught the suspect and handed him over to police after trashing him. Police identified him as Sudhan (19), a final-year student from Athiyur near Kunnathur.
Sources said he was a regular visitor to a flat in the girl’s apartment and had noticed the girl alone. Besides her chain, he had taken away a two-gram gold coin and Rs 50,000 cash from the house, said police. He was admitted in hospital as he suffered injuries in the assault by public. Anupparpalayam police booked him under 309 (6) (committing robbery, voluntarily causing hurt) and 311 (Robbery) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Act.
The girl suffered dislocation of bone in her hand and was treated at a nearby hospital.