An elderly woman was robbed of gold ornaments at her home in Manjeripady, Muvattupuzha, on Sunday morning after a burglar allegedly broke in and stuffed a piece of cloth inside her mouth.

The woman, Mariamma (86), was sleeping in her bedroom around 8 am when she suddenly woke up to find a man sitting beside her on the bed and attempting to remove her gold bangles. “The man stuffed a piece of cloth inside my mouth and tried very hard to remove my bangles. When I moved my hand, he noticed the chain on my neck and took that as well,” she said.

According to the First Information Report (FIR) registered by Muvattupuzha Police, the man stole a gold bangle weighing two sovereigns, three bangles weighing one sovereign each, a chain weighing four sovereigns, and a locket weighing one sovereign. The total stolen gold amounts to 11 sovereigns, valued at ₹11,60,000.

Mariamma’s relatives, who reside in nearby houses, had gone to church in the morning when the incident took place. Only a house help, a native of Tamil Nadu, was present. According to police, she was allegedly locked inside the bathroom.

The case has been registered under Sections 127(2) (wrongful confinement), 331(3) (house-trespass) and 309(4) (punishment for standard robbery) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Police are examining CCTV visuals from nearby areas to identify the burglar.