A social activist, who was attacked at her residence in Vasai on Friday night, has alleged that a politician and his son from Madhya Pradesh were behind it.

Shamim Modi, who hails from the Harda district of Madhya Pradesh, shifted to Mumbai with her husband, Anurag, after she found a job as an assistant professor at the Tata Institue of Social Sciences in Deonar.

Modi was allegedly attacked by a watchman and received 200 stitches and suffered multiple fractures. She is now recuperating at a nursing home in Vasai.

Modi and Anurag had initiated a movement against corruption and exploitation of workers of saw mills in rural Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. “We have actively worked in Harda and have exposed the politician time and again. He had tried to attack us even when we were in MP. I am in great shock after this attack,” said Anurag.

“We have recorded the victim’s statement. We are now on the lookout for the watchman who attacked her. Only after we arrest him we will be able to take the case forward,” said Additional Superintendent of Police, Vasai, S B Pathare. Pathare added that they are not ruling out the possibility of a political motive behind the attack.

According to the statement given by Modi, a watchman named Rakesh Nepali entered her house on the pretext of checking the water supply. He then strangulated her and stabbed her with a knife. Modi said that she even offered her valuables to the accused who refused to take them and continued attacking her. The attacker stopped hitting her after Modi pretended to be dead.

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