Elderly couple from Tirunelveli chase away armed burglars, video goes viral

An elderly couple from Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli turned into an internet sensation, after a one minute video of them fighting off burglars armed with billhooks went viral.

Shanmugavelu (72) and his wife Senthamarai (68), farmers living in Kadayam village, were attacked by two masked men on Sunday night. The attack took place at around 9:30 p.m., when Shanmugavelu was sitting outside his house talking to his sons in settled in Chennai and Bengaluru.

In the middle of the call, Shanmugavelu was attacked when one of the assailant threw a towel from behind and tried to strangulate him. Hearing the 72-year-old husband’s cry for help, his wife Senthamarai rushed to his help by throwing slippers, chairs and books at the assailant.

Taken aback by the attack, the masked man let go of Shanmugavelu only to be attacked by the elderly couple. The masked man who was now joined by his accomplice, began to swing their weapons in desperation to kill the couple.

However, keeping up with their offensive, the couple began throwing plastic chairs at them. In the melee, the attackers injured Senthamarai and snatched her gold chain. Unable to stand up to the barrage of well-directed projectiles from the couple the masked men escaped into the darkness.

The incident came to light after the couple lodged a complaint with the local police. The chilling CCTV footage was released by the police to find the whereabouts of the burglars.

Tirunelveli police said that they have registered a case and are probing into it. “It seems to be a planned attempt. Only after knowing that the elderly couple are there in the house, the burglars have entered the premises. We have collected the available CCTV footage from the scene and are probing into the matter,” authorities said.

“People cannot randomly barge into this house, since it is isolated from the village and it is in the middle of farmland,” Shanmugavelu said.

Shanmugavelu said they attacked and injured the duo only to identify them. “They were in their mid 20s. We are aware of the injury they sustained. If he wanted to kill, he would have killed when he tied the towel around my neck. And, if he wanted to rob the jewels, he would have snatched the chain from my neck, but they did not do,” Shanmugavelu said.lderly couple from Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli turned into an internet sensation, after a one minute video of them fighting off burglars armed with billhooks went viral.