A 24-year-old morning walker who tried to resist as two scooter-borne men snatched his iPhone was hit by a pistol butt on his head and slashed in both arms and the right leg, and lay bleeding on the Maidan early on Wednesday morning.

Police said the two assailants had robbed two other morning walkers at gunpoint before they targeted Hargovind Vyas off Kidderpore Road near the Read Road crossing.

The two earlier victims, Rakesh Rana, 49, and Sachin Kumar Shaw, 21, had apparently handed over their mobile phones and cash without protest after being told they would be shot if they resisted or raised the alarm. All three incidents were reported between 5.20am and 5.35am.

Two men were arrested on Wednesday afternoon from Entally and Beniapukur in connection with the offence. They were identified as Mohammad Imran alias Totla, 33, and Sheikh Sameer Hossain alias Saboo, 33.

Hargovind, a resident of Basak Street in Burrabazar, had come walking all the way from his home to the Maidan. He was walking back home when he was accosted, his younger brother Shambhu said.

“Usually, all three of us brothers go for morning walks together. But today he (Hargovind) had gone alone. We received a call from an unknown number — it was our brother informing us that he was seriously injured and that his iPhone 6s had been snatched,” Shambhu said.

“My younger brother and I rushed to the Maidan and found he was bleeding profusely and the police were preparing to take him away in an ambulance.”

Shambhu said his brother had told him that one of the two men on the scooter had pushed him from the back, and he felt his phone being snatched from his hand.

As Hargovind grabbed one of the men, the other allegedly slashed him multiple times with a large knife, Shambhu said.

“One of them attacked my brother with the butt of a pistol. That is when he fell and gave up. The two men fled,” the brother said.

The stretch where the incident happened is frequented by hundreds of morning walkers from across the city. It appears that a morning walker found Hargovind, let him make a call home, and rang up the police helpline.

The police said they had morning patrol vehicles in the Maidan area, which is why they could respond promptly.

Hargovind was discharged from hospital late in the afternoon with 80 stitches.