Burglars attack senior citizen in Vile Parle

Four unidentified men allegedly assaulted a senior citizen with a wooden stick when their burglary bid was foiled by him in the wee hours of Tuesday. The victim, 65-year-old Manohar Mehta, who lived on the first floor of Sohani Building at DJ Road, Vile Parle West, heard some noise on the second floor of the building at around 2am. Mehta's son Dipesh went to check and saw the flat broken into and a few equipment kept outside the door. The owner of the flat was away and Dipesh was aware that the house was empty, said the police.

"Dipesh went back to his house to make a call and alert the police. Meanwhile, Mehta went to the broken flat. The burglars, who could not find anything valuable to steal, were trying to flee. When Mehta tried to stop them, they hit him with the wooden stick on his head and fled in a vehicle parked near the building," a police officer said.

Mehta has sustained serious injuries on his head and is undergoing treatment at Nanavati Hospital. His condition is said to be critical. A case of attempted burglary and assault has been registered with the Juhu police who are scanning the CCTV footage from a nearby shop to identify the burglars.

"The building does not have a guard or CCTV cameras. We believe that the vehicle that the four used had fake number plates. We traced the vehicle's owner through the registration number that Dipesh had made a note of. It belonged to somebody who we don't suspect had anything to do with the crime. Investigations are on," said Milind Bharambe, additional commissioner of police, west region.