Never under estimate a woman. Two women travelling by the Mumbai-bound Nagarcoil Express on Wednesday fended off a group of notorious robbers and shoved one of them out of the running train.
Laxmi Velu Nadar (35), her daughter Krutika (6), neighbour Pichamma Mani Nadar (36) and her sons Srikant (5) and Ganesh (2) were returning home after vacationing in their native town of Yerwadi in Tamil Nadu.
“The train had reached Dadar around 9pm and all passengers in the compartment had alighted. We were the only ones left. When the train started for CST, five youths boarded the train,” recalled Laxmi.
One of them approached Pichamma and tried to snatch her gold chain, but could not as it was thick. The youth slapped her and tried to snatch the chain again.
Laxmi, who was watching with horror, suddenly pounced upon the youth and began to hit him wildly. “Pichamma too joined me. Together we beat the hell out of them. But the others butted in. One of them whipped out a sharp weapon and slashed at my left hand,” she recalled.
Blood poured out, but Laxmi kept fighting. “It was as if we were possessed by a Goddess. Scared out of wits, the other three tried to flee. We ran after them and managed to shove one out of the train,” she said.
Laxmi said “We lost ornaments worth Rs69,000, but we consoled ourselves that we managed to ward off the robbers.”
Police Inspector Namdeo Kadam of Dadar railway police said, “A case of dacoity had been registered. From the descriptions given by the victims, we traced the robber whom the women managed to throw out. Jarardan Jay Mangal Ram (21) revealed the names of his four accomplices — Jetalikumar Kogale (22), Dhuni Mukhiya (19), Sikhander Khan (22) and Vishal Kumar Rathod (22). They have been arrested and booty worth Rs52,000 has been recovered.”
