Bengaluru: Mom, daughter fight thief for 15 minutes, stop him from fleeing with their gold

BENGALURU: A mother and daughter duo caught a thief, who was trying to escape after stealing their gold ornaments, cash and property documents and handed him over to police at Andrahalli in west Bengaluru recently. Insurance company employee Kavyashree, 29, a resident of Varasiddhinagar and her mother Bhagya, 49, a homemaker are the brave women.
The suspect, Lokanath of Rajajinagar, has been arrested by Byadarahalli police.The incident took place on June 26 afternoon when Kavyashree was home, having taken off from work. Her father, who works as a tobacco products distributor, had left home in the morning. Bhagya went to the terrace of the building to dry clothes and Kavyashree followed her after latching the door from outside.
When she came back after about five minutes, Kavyashree found the front door open. As she was entering the house, a man wearing a jacket walked out. She noticed the man was hiding a box containing the family’s ornaments in his jacket. She immediately caught hold of him by his jacket and raised the alarm. Soon, Bhagya rushed to her help.
Kavyashree’s father Ningaiah said:, “The thief assaulted my daughter and bit her hand. When she held him with the other hand, he bit that hand too. He bit her both hands multiple times. He was trying to wriggle free and dragged my daughter. But my wife joined Kavyashree and they pulled him back into our house. They then locked the doors from inside.”
Kavyashree and Bhagya were all along trying to snatch back their box of ornaments from the thief but he kept fighting back, he said.
Kavyashree told police that the thief warned her of dire consequences if she did not let him go. “As the struggle went on for almost 15 minutes inside the house, neighbours heard the shouts. Their building owner and a few others rushed to the house and asked Bhagya to open the door. The residents blocked the way and ensured the thief could not escape. As they beat Lokanath, Kavyashree called police helpline 112 and informed them of the incident. Hoysala police rushed to the spot and detained Lokanath.
Lokanath claimed that a pan-beeda shopkeeper had asked him to steal the property documents from Ningaiah’s home. “But he is not exactly revealing who the shopkeeper is. We suspect he is cooking up a story,” police said.
According to police, Lokanath was loitering in the area to commit burglary and when he saw Kavyashree latching the door from outside, he sneaked in. “He took the keys of the almirah and broke the small locker inside and took hold of the ornament box, Rs 12,000 in cash and property documents,” police said.
Kavyashree is undergoing treatment for her injuries. She was down with a fever following the incident.
An officer said, “A case has been registered under IPC sections 506 (criminal intimidation), 451 (house trespass to commit an offence punishable with imprisonment), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty). Lokanath has been provided treatment for his injuries.”
According to Ningaiah, the family got its gold ornaments and documents back but about Rs 12,000 is missing.