Mumbai: Brave psychiatrist beats back burglar

Dr Shruti Manaktala

A burglar climbed drainage pipes to enter the second-floor flat of Dr Shruti Manaktala, a well-known psychiatrist in Juhu on August 26. However, Dr Manaktala used her professional expertise to scare him off during the early hours as he was discreetly opening drawers to steal valuables. Dr Manaktala and her sister Dr Sunanda Anand had been sleeping in their second-floor flat.

Dr Manakatla was about to wake up for her morning meditation when she noticed a thin-built man entering her room. Using her presence of mind, she shouted, "Kaun hai... Chor! Chor! Chor! Pakdo, Pakdo!!" The burglar caught off guard, panicked and started moving around the house. Recalling the incident, Dr Manakatla said, "We were out of the station and had returned on Sunday. After having dinner on Sunday night, we slept a little early. I wake up early every day around 3.30 am for mediation. But, on Monday, I got up early around 3.15 am when I noticed someone entering my room. It was a scary moment, but I knew he was a burglar. Instead of confronting him, I began shouting to scare him off. My sister, who was in the next room, also woke up, and we both tried to handle the situation."

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The injury caused to the doctor (right) the burglar spotted in the CCTV

The burglar had entered the flat through a window. As Dr Manakatla continued to shout, the burglar frantically searched for an escape route. Eventually, he fled through the same window he had entered. "We both the sisters were at a safe distance from him and somewhere we were allowing the burglar to escape instead of catching him at the spot. So, I continued to howl and began to give him a safe escape route so that he can go away instead of stealing anything from my house or attacking us using any sharp edged weapons," she added. As Dr Manakatla chased the burglar, he slammed the door, hitting her on the head. "I was about to grab him by the vest, but he managed to escape. His movements were caught on CCTV," she said.

Despite night patrolling claims by Mumbai police, housebreaking incidents are on the rise, especially in western suburbs where high-profile individuals reside. Dr Manakatla believes the burglar had likely scoped out her flat while she was away. Dr Manakatla sustained head injuries and a wedge compression fracture in her vertebrae. She has been advised two weeks of bed rest. Senior Inspector Sunil Jadhav of Juhu police station said, "We have registered the FIR and are in the process of identifying the accused with the help of the CCTV footage. We are tracing the accused."