On this day, a multi-national gang, comprising Italians, Portuguese, Frenchmen, Germans and Bengalis, attacked the house of Chaitanya Datta in Colootolla in the city.

The gang members stole Rs 6,000 and escaped, after having beaten up Dutta mercilessly. He barely survived the assault.

The incident pointed to the interactions of Europeans from different countries with the local people on the margins of the city.

A similar incident occurred in January 1795, when a “gang of white dacoits led by a Bengali guide” attacked the home of a prosperous Bengali cloth merchant, Chaitan Sil, the father of businessman and philanthropist Mutty Lall Seal.

This Bengali intermediary was Rammohan Lal, who was said to speak fluent Portuguese.

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