An Apple Valley grandmother has been charged with felony assault after she allegedly went after her 12-year-old granddaughter with a knife during a dispute involving a jigsaw puzzle.

Parbati Kalicharan, 64, was chopping up peppers Saturday when she became angry with her granddaughter for saying "shut up," according to a criminal complaint filed in Dakota County District Court. It charges Kalicharan with second-degree assault and alleges that the incident unfolded this way:

The girl told police that she was putting together her puzzle when her grandma became angry about what she had said, walked over, ripped up the puzzle box and tossed it in the garbage. The girl then pleaded with her grandma for the box so that she could use the picture on it to finish her puzzle. But her grandmother ripped the box into even smaller pieces.

Then, the girl reported, her grandma snatched the puzzle itself from a place mat and threw away all the pieces. The girl told her grandma that she didn't like her and hid under the kitchen table. A few moments later, the girl went to the refrigerator but Kalicharan chased her behind a couch, wielding the knife.

Somehow, the girl got a cut about three-quarters of an inch long inside one of her ears.

Police were summoned, and when officers got to Kalicharan's home, they asked her where the knife was that had been used in the assault.

At first, the grandmother told police that no knife was involved. Then, she told them that she had washed the knife and put it away.

Kalicharan told police that she did have the knife in her hand, but had held it by the blade, showing the handle to the girl while threatening to hit her with it. She said she did not show the blade to the girl or cut her.

The girl's injury did not appear to be serious.

Police took Kalicharan to the Dakota County Jail on Saturday. On Tuesday, she posted $1,500 cash for bail that had been set at $15,000 and was released.

Joy Powell • 952-882-9017