Prity Jaiswal at her Howrah home. Picture by Gopal Senapati

Calcutta, Dec. 1: A 26-year-old woman, her back bleeding after she was slashed with a razor, caught hold of one of the goons who had broken into her Howrah flat and handed him over to police.

Prity Jaiswal was asleep with husband Benode, a realtor, and their two-year-old son Subhom when a gang of five youths raided her Kaibartapara Lane home in Salkia around 2.30am on Saturday, police said.

The gang had bolted five of the six flats in the two-storey building from outside, including that of Benode’s elder brother Rajkapoor, who stays next door.

The Jaiswals were woken up by the banging on the door of their top-floor flat. When they came out of their bedroom, the youths had broken the door down and barged in, brandishing razors and choppers.

The burglars — aged between 25 and 30 — opened an almirah, which was not locked, and took out Rs 9,000 in cash. Then they asked for the locker key.

“When I pleaded that the key was with my mother-in-law who was sleeping in the next room, one of the youths put a razor to my son’s throat and threatened to kill him if I did not hand over the key,” Prity said.

The others attacked her husband with a chopper. “I opened one of the widows and started shouting for help at the top of my voice. Then one of the goons slashed me with a razor on my back,” Prity, a housewife, said.

Scared that her cries would alert her neighbours, the youths tried to flee. “But I mustered the courage to grab one of them,” Prity said.

By then, her brother-in-law had arrived after breaking down the door of his flat.

“My husband joined us and the three of us overpowered the robber while the others fled under the cover of darkness. We later handed him over to the police,” Prity said.

The police gave the robber’s name as Sanat Sinha.

The family is still shaken. “The goons might have killed us had we, particularly Prity, not put up a resistance. Imagine, they threatened to kill a two-year-old kid,” shuddered Benode.

Shiu Prasad Rai, who stays on the ground floor, said he had heard Prity’s cries. “But I could not come out as the goons had bolted the door of my flat.”

Rabindranath Chakraborty, the inspector in charge of Malipanchghara police station, said a preliminary probe suggested the gang was from Bhotebagan in Bally. “We have started raids to nab those who fled. Sanat will be produced in court tomorrow,” he added.