Tirunelveli: elderly couple at Kalyanipuram in Kadaiyam, about 60 km from here, put up a brave fight against two armed and masked robbers who tried to strangle the man and fled with his wife's gold thali late Sunday night, police said.
They said special teams have been formed and the footage from the CCTV camera fitted outside the house was being scrutinised for clues about the robbers who came armed with sickles. Video images from the CCTV have gone viral and messages congratulating them have been pouring in on the social media.
The video shows 70-year-old Shanmugavel sitting outside his house getting up to pick up a piece of paper on the table in front of him, unaware that a masked man was sneaking up from behind. In a flash, the intruder threw a piece of cloth around Shanmugavel's neck and pulled hard against a metal pole intending to strangulate him. A second masked robber joins the fight armed with a sickle.
Struggling to free himself, the old man makes loud choking noises that bring his wife Senthamarai, 65, rushing out to check. She acts immediately, picking up some footwear lying around and flinging them to hit the two masked thieves. With the woman launching a barrage of hits upon them, the masked men swing their sickles trying to inflict cut wounds on the brave couple.
Both the elders then pick up their weapons--plastic chairs, a stool and many footwear-to go after the armed intruders. In the process, the woman receives a cut injury on her left hand and loses her gold thali to the attacker. Unable to withstand the fight-back by the couple, the masked men flee, though richer by a four-sovereign thali that Senthamarai was wearing.
Shanmugavel told reporters he had been living there with his wife for close to 40 years tending to his large farmland and knew the risks in staying so far away from the village and close to the forest edge. That’s why he had installed the CCTV cameras at his place, he said.
Police have been visiting them multiple times after he made his complaint immediately after the attack. They (police) seem confident of cracking the case by nabbing the masked duo with the help of the CCTV footage, he said.
When pointed out that they had become some kind of a celebrity couple due to their brave fight against masked-armed men, both Shanmugavel and wife Senthamarai brushed it aside saying they responded just like anyone placed in similar state of a shock attack would. “I am happy he has managed to come out of it unharmed. That’s what really counts”, the brave woman said, referring to her losing the gold thali and receiving cut injury on the hand.
