Dared in Dadar

The heroic strug­gle of Dadar residents Hoshang Madon and his neighbor Minoo Bamboat who succeeded in fobbing a robbery attempt by the culprit identified by the police as Jitendra Choud­hary helped the police nab the alleged criminal who is reportedly wanted for 50 cases of housebreak and theft in Bombay and Poona, according to a write-up in the Mid-Day of January 31, 2005.

On the evening of January 19 when businessman Madon returned home, he found a man loitering outside the door of his residence at the Mancherji Edalji Joshi Parsi Colony in Dadar, stated a report in The Times of India of January 21. On being questioned the man claimed he was sent by the cable company to collect Madon’s outstanding dues. Knowing that he had already paid his cable dues for the full 2005, Madon immediately suspect­ed the man’s credentials.

Keeping his hold on the culprit he led him down the stairs and found an accomplice standing outside. By then Bamboat had been alerted and rushed out. Realizing they were in trouble the armed criminals became offensive, attacked both Madon and Bamboat and tried to flee. Bamboat sustained severe hand injury. Madon was bleeding from his chin and the area between his two lower ribs where he had been stabbed. Despite his injuries, an unrelenting Madon pursued the assailant and finally managed to nab him. Later he was handed over to the police and the two injured rushed to Sion Hospital for treatment.

While Choudhary was reportedly remanded to police custo­dy, Madon received a visit the next day from deputy commissioner Ankush Shinde who congratulated him for his brave act, mentions The Times report.

Within 10 days of this episode came the news that Minoo Joshi, the grandson of the founder of the Mancherji Joshi Colony perished in his one-bedroom apartment at Amardad Building in Dadar. Sixty-three-year-old Joshi’s body was found charred to death. "The police and fire brigade suspect that the fire, in which the flat was gutted, was caused due to an accident,” men­tioned The Times of India of January 30, 2005. "We suspect that the fire could have been caused by a carelessly lit cigarette. The mattresses caught fire and within minutes the entire flat was ablaze,” an officer was quoted in The Times. Fortunately a resi­dent of a neighboring building saw smoke coming out of the flat and alerted the fire brigade around 1 a.m. The flames were doused before the fire could reach the kitchen and cause further damage.

Minoo Joshi used to work for Air-India, according to The Times report, while his grandfather was a civil engineer who had procured land at a cheap price from the Bombay Municipal Corpora­tion and constructed the colony for middle-class Parsi families eight decades ago. He subsequently contested the civic elections and was a councilor for 17 years.