Coimbatore man snatches gold chain to pay daughter’s school fee, arrested

COIMBATORE: Unable to pay the school fee of his daughter, a 38-year-old man snatched a gold chain of a woman at Peelamedu in Coimbatore on Monday night. He was caught and thrashed by the public. Later, he was handed over to police.
The arrested man has been identified as B Arjun of Giriamman Temple Street at Peelamedu.
Ponmani, 57, of Kallimedu Street, is running a fancy store on the Dispensary Road. Around 10.15 pm, Arjun reached there on the pretext of buying something. He snatched Ponmani’s gold chain weighing 10.5 sovereigns. When he attempted to escape on a motorcycle, Ponmani raised an alarm. Other shopkeepers and neighbours caught him and beat him up. Later, he was handed over to police. Police recovered the gold chain from him.
Preliminary inquiries revealed that he had been working as a driver of a doctor at Olympus in Ramanathapuram more than a decade ago. He fell in love with Parveen who was working as a nursing assistant. They got married, and the couple have an eight-year-old daughter. He quit the job and was working in a bakery as a tea master. He was getting a wage of Rs 500 daily. He was not able to run his family as they were residing in a rental house.
His daughter is studying in Class III in a private school at Peelamedu. He was not able to pay the school fee. So, he decided snatch a gold chain and was caught in his first attempt. He was remanded in judicial custody.