The attack was reportedly meant to punish the shopkeeper for putting up posters about the extortion happening in his locality.
When he was attacked with a sword, security cameras within his shop captured the assailants and the heroic customer who sprang to the rescue of Rajnish Singh Thakur in Mumbai.
Mr Thakur, who is physically challenged, was in intensive care in hospital for hours. Four people have been arrested; the police is hunting for two more suspects. (
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On Tuesday night, a group of six men pulled up to Mr Thakur's shop, which sells mobile phones, determined to exact revenge because he had put up posters in May in the Chembur area warning that extortionists were threatening shop owners to make regular payments of Rs 1,000 to them. Anyone who didn't fall in line was warned that his or her shop could be set on fire, the posters said. Mr Thakur asked people to contact him or his brother with information on the thugs. Though some of the extortionists were arrested, they were released after paying a fine.
Security cameras show one attacker entering the shop with the sword hidden behind his back. He then slashed Mr Thakur twice, injuring his hand and neck before a customer, Nasruddin Khudabaksh Mansuri, overpowered him. The five other gang-members in the car outside drove away.
"We are so grateful to the customer who saved his life. Otherwise he would have been hacked to death. The police did act initially but then they dropped it," the victim's brother Manish Thakur said.