Chain-snatching incident during Mathamangalam temple festival in Kannur: two held, two others flee

Two women from Karnataka were apprehended by local people and handed over to the police after an elderly woman’s gold chain was stolen during a temple festival at Mathamangalam in Kannur on Sunday (April 19, 2026). Two others in the group managed to escape.

The incident occurred around 2.45 p.m. on the concluding day of the Puliyoor Kali temple festival, when P.V. Rohini (76), a native of Paravoor, Mathamangalam, was standing in a queue to offer prayers to Koranthiyamma Theyyam. The police said four women who were standing behind her allegedly snatched her gold chain weighing five and a half sovereigns and attempted to flee.