Mumbai:
The city police have cautioned all women living alone at home not to allow entry to anyone posing as delivery persons or offering gifts or free SIM cards.
An incident involving two hammer-wielding assailants intent on robbery left two Vile Parle-based housewives, Swati and Minal, with serious head injuries.
The modus operandi of the attackers, Aslam Shaikh (25) and Gopi Nair (27), is to wait till the men leave the home and the women are alone and then gain entry by posing as salemen, police said.
The two assailants entered the women's flat in Eastern Court building in Vile Parle after telling them that they were delivering two gift-wrapped packages containing SIM cards that the women had won.
According to DCP Satyanarayan Choudhary, the unsuspecting women allowed the duo to enter, after which they were handed the gift packages.
While the women were engrossed in unwrapping the packages, Shaikh and Nair whipped out hammers and assaulted them, causing serious head injuries to both.
The women started screaming for help. This scared the attackers. The women were later rushed to Cooper Hospital for treatment.
The Vile Parle police ran a check on all the people involved in SIM card distribution in the area and stumbled upon the names of Shaikh and Nair and arrested them after a massive manhunt.
Both suspects have been remanded to police custody till February 18 and police are currently trying to verify whether the duo is involved in similar cases elsewhere.