The Malleswaram police have cracked a recent case where an 84-year-old senior citizen was attacked with a machete and robbed of a gold chain at her house, sending shockwaves in the area.
The police arrested Sabhapathy, 45, who often frequented the woman’s house to pluck coconuts from the tree in the compound and was known to the victim. Police have recovered ₹2 Lakh worth 50 grams of gold chain he had robbed from the old woman and the machete he had used to attack her.
Sabhapathy, hailing from Tamil Nadu, lived in a shed in the parking lot of a nearby building and often did rounds of Malleswaram and Vyalikaval, offering to pluck coconuts from trees found in many houses in these areas. He had similarly visited the house of the victim several times and realised she lived alone; her two daughters lived separately, one in the city and another abroad.
Planning to rob her, he came masked and as she was struggling to recognise him near the gate, he attacked her with a machete. As she fell down in a pool of blood, he made away with the gold chain in her neck.
A courier delivery person who came by minutes later discovered the senior citizen lying in the compound, raised an alarm and rushed her to a nearby hospital. The senior citizen recovered from the attack.
Police cracked the case with leads from the CCTV footage of the area. The accused Sabhapathy had fled from the city and was in his hometown in Tamil Nadu, sources said.
