Intruders flee, clip goes viral

A video of an elderly couple valiantly fighting off robbers, throwing everything they could lay their hands on at the intruders, was all the rage online on Monday.

The incident, which happened late on Sunday and was captured on CCTV cameras, at the couple’s home near Kadayam earned them a lot of appreciation.

Police said two masked robbers carrying machetes entered the house of Shanmugavel, 72, at Kalyanipuram under Kadayam police station limits, and tried to strangle him even as he was sitting in front his house around 10 p.m.

(Caution: some viewers may find the visuals disturbing)

Shanmugavel’s wife Senthaamarai came rushing to his rescue on hearing a noise. She began hurling things at the duo — footwear, buckets and plastic chairs. Freeing himself, Shanmugavel also threw himself with gusto into the attack against the two armed men. The couple waged an unrelenting battle against the criminals for a couple of minutes, forcing the duo to flee.

Police said Senthaamarai sustained a cut on her right hand in the attack and lost her gold chain, weighing four sovereigns, to the culprits.

After two burglaries in the past three years, Mr. Shanmugavel had fitted CCTV cameras at 14 spots around his house, situated at the entrance to his farm.

Using footage from the CCTV cameras, the Kadayam police have started an investigation on the attempt to burgle the house of Mr. Shanmugavel, a lemon wholesale trader known as ‘Triple S’ in the area.

After the footage went viral, the couple’s relatives and friends flocked to the house on Monday. The couple’s son Ashok, an engineer based in Chennai, rushed back home immediately. “Amma [Senthaamarai] has sustained a cut injury on her right hand. She is a courageous woman who took on the armed criminals instantly on seeing Appa [Shanmugavel] being strangled. By God’s grace, nothing untoward happened,” he said.