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OAP blinded in random yob attack

Susannah Wright
1/ 5/2008

A PENSIONER has been told he could lose the sight in one eye after an acidic substance was sprayed into his face in a random attack.

Mukul Ranjon Das spent eight days in hospital after being targeted by a gang of six teenage thugs as he walked along an entrance path at Burnage railway station.

After the attack one of the gang taunted him saying: "It’s just a joke."

Mr Das, 65, has been unable to see from his left eye since the attack at the end of March, and doctors have warned him that he might never regain his sight.

Mr Das, from Cranford Avenue, Withington, said: "To these thugs this was just a joke, but I still can’t see out of my left eye and might might never be able to again.

"I’m so angry about it and it was very painful, like a burning sensation or as if chilli powder was thrown in my eye."

He added: "I’ve been scared to go out since and if I see groups of kids I’m scared to go near them. I also get worried if I hear someone behind me because I keep thinking that they might have something they could attack me with."

Mr Das, who managed the Hannan restaurant in Rusholme for 15 years before he retired, had been walking along a path leading off Brayside Road on his way to catch a train at Burnage railway station.

The six youths, who he thinks were aged between 13 to 15, came towards him on the narrow path and as they barged past him, one of them suddenly sprayed an unidentified liquid directly into his eye.

They ran off laughing and joking while Mr Das doubled up, wincing in pain and put his hand to his eye.

He said: "I was shocked and in pain but I was too scared to shout back because some of them were much bigger than me.

"I put a tissue over my eye, but because it was burning so much I was worried that if I rubbed it, it would make it worse."

Mr Das, a father of two grown-up children, managed to stumble along and get back to the home he shares with his wife Bharati, 56.

They called the police and an ambulance, and he was rushed to Manchester Royal Infirmary.

Mr Das spent three days in and out of hospital being treated with drops but as the eye was greatly swollen, it was not until the third day that doctors realised how serious the damage was.

His eye socket was injected with a local anaesthetic, and specialist eye surgeons covered his eyeball with three layers of thin protective tissue, which had to be stitched on and covered with a contact lense.

Nurses put drops in his eye every hour and Mr Das spent the next eight days in hospital.

He said: "I was on so many pain-killers that I got an allergic reaction to them and my face swelled up and my skin went funny.

"It was horrible, I looked like the elephant man."

After taking the protective tissue off, doctors said the physical damage to his eye has begun to improve, but Mr Das still cannot see out of his left eye and doctors have warned him they don’t know if he ever will.

He has been having check-ups every few days and has been told that his next appointment with the surgeon on May 12 might yield a definite prognosis.

He said: "I have to wear my glasses all the time now because it’s put a strain on my right eye and I keep bumping into things because half of my vision has gone.

"These yobs might have thought they were just having a laugh but I don’t know if I’m ever going to see again properly."

Police have confirmed that they are investigating a report of Mr Das being assaulted by being sprayed with an unknown substance, by a group of youths on Friday, March 28.

The youths are all thought to be aged between 13 and 15, two of whom where mixed-race and four who were white. They are thought to have been wearing hooded tops.

No-one has been arrested for the offence.