Chennai: Robbers kill man, grab gold from injured wife

CHENNAI: Two men on Wednesday night hacked to death a 65-year-old farmer, when he tried to stop a robbery bid, fleeing with his wife’s 10 sovereign (80g) gold chain worth Rs 2.3 lakh after attacking the woman and a passerby who intervened, near Minjur in Tiruvallur district, 45 km from Chennai.
Investigators said the two assailants, riding a motorcycle, had followed Jayaraman, a resident of Velur village near Minjur, and his wife Vijaya, 57, who were also riding a two-wheeler, for some distance before they accosted the couple around 7pm on a deserted stretch near Anuppampattu, around 5km from Minjur.

“The men alighted from the motorcycle and, brandishing sickles, demanded that Vijaya hand over her gold jewellery,” an investigating officer said. “Disregarding the threat from the armed robbers, Jayaraman alighted from his bike and dared them to snatch his wife’s gold chain.”

Vijaya told the investigators that her husband shielded her from the robbers.

“One of the robbers threatened my husband and the men attacked him with their sickles,” Vijaya said in a police complaint. “Then the robbers tried to take my gold chain but I resisted. They were infuriated and attacked me too.”

During the attack, she told the police, a man passing by stopped and tried to rescue the couple. “Arumugam, of Sholavaram, who was heading to Minjur, stopped his motorbike and tried to intervene and help the couple,” the officer said. “The robbers turned their fury on Arumugam and attacked him too.”

After seeing off the threat from Arumugam, the pair sped away on their motorcycle with Vijaya’s gold chain.

Other passersby soon stopped at the gruesome sight, summoned emergency medical help for the blood-spattered threesome and alerted the police. A team from the Kattur police station rushed to the spot and sent the trio to Stanley Medical College and Hospital. Doctors there pronounced Jayaraman dead on arrival. Vijaya and Arumugam are receiving treatment at the hospital. “Jayaraman died of excessive blood loss. He sustained deep cuts to the head,” the officer quoted doctors as saying. “Vijaya and Arumugam are out of danger.”

The officer said Jayaraman and Vijaya were returning home after purchasing household goods when the robbers set upon them.

The Kattur police have launched a search for the suspects.