Hill Palace (Tripunithura): A teenage girl successfully fought off a man who barged into her house here in Tripunithura when she was home alone. Karate skills and guts helped her to fend off the intruder.

Anagha, a Plus-One student, is now the star of this town on the periphery of Kochi city after she drove the attacker away with her presence of mind and self-defence tactics.

The incident happened at her house, Sreenilayam, on Parappilli Road soon after her parents left home at 7.30 am on Tuesday.

The man had apparently sneaked in through the rear door. He awaited his chance as Anagha went to the kitchen to lock the door.

The moment Anagha was stunned seeing the shadow of the man who was hiding behind the door, the latter waved a knife at her twice, and it almost grazed her neck.

Though she moved back, he did not stop. Then Anagha blocked the next swish of the knife with her hand and got injured on her hand.

The man closed Anagha’s mouth and tried to suffocate her. She felt breathless. With this, the karate black-belt holder in Anagha arose and she struck back.

She defended by hitting the assailant on his lower abdomen with her knee. As she took a coconut that lied nearby and hit the attacker on his head, he ran, jumped over the compound wall and fled.

"He was a clean-shaven, tall man. Though I was taken aback for a moment initially, I regained my composure, fought the attacker and defended myself," Anagha said.

Anagha has only a minor injury as the knife the man used to attack her was blunt. He did not utter a word during the attack.

Locals say that the accused has been roaming around in this area for the past two days and is likely from another State.

Hill Palace Police inspected the place.

Investigation is on based on the CCTV visuals from the nearby areas, police said.

Anagha is a Plus-One student at the Government Girls High School, Tripunithura. She had undergone karate training for about 10 years.

Her mother Nisha runs an IELTS training centre at Karingachira. Her father Arun is a businessman.