Mumbai: Caretaker booked for assaulting paralysed man

Chandrakant Shinde with his wife Madhuri. Chandrakant was kicked and punched in the face; (right) Shinde’s injury. Pics/Hanif Patel

Hours after mid-day published its report ‘Caretaker assaults paralysed senior citizen', the cops in Mira Road finally registered an FIR against Babula Nahak on Saturday evening. However, he is yet to be arrested.

Thanking mid-day for highlighting the incident which forced Mira Road police to register an FIR, the victim's son Dipak Shinde said, "I had been struggling to register an FIR as the cops were not entertaining us. But once the report was published, the cops reached the hospital, recorded my father's statement and registered an FIR. The cops were taking the matter lightly despite knowing that my elderly father was brutally assaulted by Nahak. Thank you, mid-day, for the help."

In the statement to police, the 78-year-old retired railway official, Chandrakant Shinde said that Nahak was heavily intoxicated and he brutally assaulted him. "Nahak punched my father's face causing him to bleed through his lips and later, he hit my bed-ridden father with a chair. I have been told that Nahak also kicked my father besides verbally abusing and intimidating him. While assaulting my father, Nahak threatened him with dire consequences if he took any legal action against him. He had also threatened to kill my mother," Dipak told mid-day.

Babula Nahak, the accused caretaker

"The cops did not help despite narrating the horror to them. But the mid-day story worked wonders for us and forced the cops to take legal action against the assaulter," he added.

Chandrakant's ribs got fractured due to the assault, according to the medical report and doctors have advised him to undergo surgeries. "At present, we have brought him back home but we will take him to the railway hospital in Byculla for the surgery," Dipak said.

"My father is so traumatised after this incident that he has given up his will to survive. Also, his recovery rate has slowed down because it is recommended that he doesn't exercise at this stage. This is really alarming for his health," he added.

Investigating officer, API Rameshwar Padwal, said, "We have registered an FIR under relevant sections of BNS. The accused is untraceable. So, we have written a letter to the Prakash Nursing Bureau and asked for all the credentials related to Nahak. We need to check if his police verification was done or not, whether the owner had permission to run this bureau or not, etc."

Nahak was hired from a Malad-based nursing bureau to work as a 24-hour caretaker at Chandrakant's house in Mira Road. "Nahak is a nice man by heart but he became violent after drinking alcohol. He is a native of Odisha and has been residing in a chawl in Kandivli. He was associated with us for the last year and we never received any complaint. But after I learnt that he had assaulted Shinde, I scolded him. Now, he has switched off his cell phone and gone underground," said Om Prakash Tiwari, who has been running Prakash Nursing Bureau in Malad for the last 15 years.

Tiwari added, "We have known Nahak for the last few years and his police verification expired a year ago. I will meet the police officer in Mira Road this week."

78 Years
Age of bedridden victim