Delhi: Bollywood actress assaulted, robbed by 'thak thak' gang outside mall

Bollywood actress Farheen Prabhakar was assaulted and robbed of her wallet and mobile phones by four members of a 'thak thak' gang, a police officer said on Sunday.

The actress, who is the wife of former cricketer Manoj Prabhakar, was on her way to a mall in south Delhi when the incident took place. 

Distraction technique is often used by the 'thak thak' gang to steal valuables from vehicles by knocking on the window and talking to the driver. If they fail, they resort to force to rob people.

A resident of Sarvpriya Vihar, Farheen, in her car, was on her way to the Select City Walk mall in Saket when the incident happened on Saturday noon.

"When Prabhakar stopped her car at a traffic signal, all the four robbers tried to smash her car. After parking her car, when she tried to reason out, the robbers abused her for not driving properly," said Deputy Commissioner of Police Vijay Kumar.

"They later took out her wallet with Rs. 16,000, documents, valuables, and mobile phones and tried to escape, but Prabhakar resisted their attempts following which they assaulted her. The accused later managed to escape in their car parked on the opposite side of a road," Mr. Kumar said.

"An asthma patient, Prabhakar collapsed on the road. She was helped by an Army officer who called the police and managed to note down the accused's vehicle registration number," the officer said.

"The police have registered a case on the complaint by the victim and are trying to identify the accused with the help of CCTV footage," said the police officer.