CHENNAI: A 33-year-old man, who robbed the gold earrings of a woman in the pretext of asking for water, was arrested by the city police. The victim, T Savitha (50) is a resident of Alamelumangapuram, Mylapore.

On Thursday morning, when she was washing clothes, a man entered her house in the pretext of asking for water.

When Savitha went to look for water, he took her by surprise by attacking her. He robbed her of her gold earring by slashing her ear and fled.

Savitha fell down to the ground and raised alarms after which the residents rushed to her aid. Some of them chased him down, caught him and handed him over to the Mylapore police station.

Savitha was taken to a hospital for treatment.

The arrested person was identified as P Praveen Kumar (33) of Kabali Thottam, Mylapore.

The stolen gold was recovered from him. He was produced before a magistrate and remanded to judicial custody.