Thief held for cutting womans ear

COIMBATORE: The police arrested A Senthil Kumar (42) a  painter of Podanur, who allegedly chopped off a 65-year-old woman’s ear, near Podanur, to steal her gold earring. Police said, Senthil Kumar sneaked into N Kamalam’s house in Podanur on Monday night when she was alone and gagged her before escaping with 3.5 sovereigns of jewels. The accused told the police that he planned the robbery to meet his family expenses. “As Senthil, who is married to two women and a father of six, spent his earnings on alcohol was not able to meet the family expenses and decided to rob Kamalam after he found out that she was living alone,” the police said.Senthil Kumar sneaked into her house around 7.30 pm when there was a power cut in the area. Later, he gagged the elderly woman and snatched all her jewels and even cut one of Kamalam’s ears while snatching her earring, the police said.“As the accused had told the complainant that he was a painter, we collected details of all painters in the locality. On Thursday, we arrested him near Kovaipudur,” the police said. He was remanded to judicial custody.