NRI survived a murderous attack in Bengal

Barrackpore, June 21 (UNI) An NRI from Japan, looking for investment areas in West Bengal, was allegedly attacked by a couple of miscreants inside a cab on the busy VIP road near Kolkata today, police said.

NRI Dr Sanjay Mehrotra was seriously wounded in the knife attack by the miscreants and was given medical care at the state owned R G Kar Medical College and Hospital in the city, police added.

Dr Mehrotra, who is the president of Japan-India Association and the chief of a consortium of industrialists in Tokyo, landed at the city airport by Thai Airways last night, was attacked by the the two when they were sharing a taxi on way to city hotel this afternoon.

The miscreants stabbed him with a knife and tried to slit his throat, Dr Mehrotra alleged saying that one of his co-passengers was introduced to him as Bhimsen Yadav, being the nephew of a Gorakhpur based industrialist Jairam Singh, whom he knew. The other one, who made an attempt with a knife to kill him was unknown to him but an accomplice of Bhimsen, Dr Mehrotra added.

Police started an investigation into the murderous attack, but no one was arrested so far.

Dr Mehrotra, who has a house at Salt Lake, told reporters that he had arrived here last night on a call from Jairam Singh, who also happened to be a Thai national, to discuss about the business as one of their partners, a day earlier, when a Japanese business delegation is arriving here on June 22 to negotiate with the ministers of West Bengal and Indian Foreign Affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi early next week.

Dr Mehrotra said that he was compelled to hire the cab when Bhimsen and his associate came to airport late at night to receive him without any car. "I don't know whether it's a conspiracy of Jairam Singh or any other" a shocked and frustrated Dr Mehrotra said. He, however, said that they had a plan to invest nearly 300 to 500 million US dollars for setting up industry in West Bengal possibly at Haldia Indiustrial area, if the state provided them suitable land. "But my latest experience here is terrific about the security", Dr Mehrotra said.

UNI