A man has been arrested in Canning, in South 24-Parganas district, for allegedly assaulting an elderly woman and robbing her Tallah home in north Kolkata on Diwali night when she was alone.
Police identified the accused as Karim Piyada, 49, who has several criminal cases against him and had been arrested earlier, too.
“Piyada is a resident of Haridevpur. It seems he committed the offence on Diwali night alone. The accused had been involved in a number of burglaries,” said an official.
Piyada, also known as Hathkata Kareem, had lost one of his arms. CCTV footage showing a one-armed man helped the cops identify the accused.
He allegedly assaulted Padma Mandal, 73, and robbed her house in Khelatbabu Lane, in Tallah, on Diwali night.
Mandal was attacked with a blunt object on her head and ears and one of her eyes was hit by a sharp object like a screwdriver, the police said.
She was admitted to a south Kolkata hospital with multiple head, ear and eye injuries. Family members said her condition had improved but she was yet to be discharged from the hospital.
“The bone under her eye fractured under the impact of the assault. The recovery will take some time,” a family member said on Monday night
Investigators said they were yet to find out whether Piyada had targeted the house on the basis of some specific tip-off or had chosen it at random.
Mandal, who lives with daughter Nibedita, son-in-law Sunil Shaw and grandson, was alone on Diwali night as the three had gone to Shaw’s parents’ house to celebrate Diwali. They had left locking the house from outside.
When Shah returned the next morning to check on his mother-in-law, he found the lock on the grille gate broken and the wooden main door damaged and ajar. Mandal was found in a pool of blood in her room, senseless.
There were five CCTV cameras, which captured the figure of the accused and ultimately helped the cops identify the man, the police said.
“Efforts are on to recover the stolen items,” an officer said.