CHENNAI: An 80-year-old woman, suspected to be mentally unstable, was caught red-handed trying to steal from a house on Thursday evening.
The police said that the woman was found in possession of a small notebook containing a list of targets for each day to steal from.
According to the police, the woman was caught by the occupants of a house in Kamakshi Amman Nagar in Mangadu when she casually came out of the bedroom.
On questioning, she claimed that she entered the house by mistake and tried to flee. However, on suspicion, the occupants tried to intercept her and the octogenarian tried to escape. The house owner raised an alarm after which the neighbours gathered and got hold of the woman.
The public recovered four sovereigns of gold jewellery, a few coins, and a bible from her. On checking the bible, they found handwritten notes mentioning other homes in the area that the elderly woman intended to rob.
Mangadu police reached the scene and after investigations, they found that the elderly woman used to casually enter homes in the afternoon, even when some of the occupants were present, and opened cupboards and stole valuables or took away valuables kept on tables in the living room.
The police said that the woman appeared to be mentally disturbed and are probing if she was sent by someone else and are yet to book a case against the woman.