Mangaluru crime: Thief ties elderly woman, stuffs cloth in mouth and loots valuables after entering house on pretext of requesting water

The intruder asked for drinking water. As she went into the kitchen to fetch it, the accused followed her.

Mangaluru: A case of theft has been registered at the Bantwal Rural Police Station following an incident in which an elderly woman was assaulted and robbed at her residence in Vagga Kavala Paduru village of Bantwal taluk.

In a complaint, Ganesh (43) said when his mother was alone at home rolling beedis, an unidentified person came to the house and enquired whether he was present. The man introduced himself as an acquaintance by mentioning the name of a neighbouring resident, Vasu Moolya, and behaved in a familiar manner.

The intruder asked for drinking water. When Ganesh’s mother offered water, he demanded hot water instead. As she went into the kitchen to fetch it, the accused followed her, choked her by stuffing cloth into her mouth, tied her hands and legs with cloth, and pushed her to the floor in the dining area.

The accused then forcibly removed a gold chain weighing about 20 grams, valued at approximately Rs 1.90 lakh, from her neck and also stole her keypad mobile phone, worth around Rs 500, which was kept on the house veranda, before fleeing the spot.

Based on the complaint, Bantwal Rural Police have registered a case under Section 309(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.