Tags:
Journalism of Courage
MUMBAI, SEPT 1: Despite the city police’s grandiose claims of providing for the safety of senior citizens, thieves brutally assaulted an old couple at Meherina Apartments, Malabar Hill, and decamped with Rs 2 lakh.
At around 2.30 pm, two unidentified armed youths posing as courier agents knocked on the door of the fourth floor flat of Jyotindra Dhillon (70). When Dhillon answered the door, the youths hit him in the face. Dhillon had already collapsed when his wife Helen (60) emerged from the bedroom.
“My husband is diabetic and suffers from frequent bouts of unconsciousness. As I bent to check his pulse, the youths came in and tried to strangle him with a piece of wire,” Helen said.
“When I resisted them, they began hitting me and almost gagged me. I screamed for help but nobody came to my rescue,” she added in a tremulous voice. The ordeal lasted 45 minutes, and by the end of it, Jyotindra and Helen had injuries around their eyes and severe lacerations on their lips. The couple, though, managed tofree themselves and call the office manager of the building, who in turn alerted the Malabar Hill police.
“It was a traumatic experience and has thrown our lives in disarray, but we are trying to pick up the pieces,” says Helen resolutely, adding that this was the first time that such a violent incident had taken place in their building, where they have been living since 1967.
The police have registered a cse of robbery and attempt to murder. According to Helen, the youths did not look like hardened criminals and displayed signs of nervousness. An identikit of the youths, who are in the age group of 17-20 years, has been prepared by the police, based on Helen’s descriptions. Police suspect that the youths hail from the neighbourhood, as they were aware that the couple were alone and had a sizeable amount of cash in the house. The duo also seemed to be well-educated since they spoke to Helen and her husband in flawless English.
The police have thrown a security cordon around the flat and every visitorwho enters the building is being screened. Nobody is being allowed to meet the Dhillons.
