Rented residence of Mohammed Firoz on Boring Road in Patna. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

A dozen hockey stick-wielding goons assaulted a couple and their two daughters on Tuesday afternoon at their rented home at the Mitra Compound area of Boring Road, triggering poser on the safety of citizens in their abode.

The victims — Mohammed Firoz (48), his wife Nuzrat Parveen and their two daughters were residing in the house for almost 10 years. Of late, a relative had joined them.

Ramakant Sinha, who had taken up duty as the guard only a day before in the building and a witness to the assault, said: “A construction work is in progress on the rear side of the building. Some people were there from morning with the labourers. Firoz lives here with his wife, two daughters and a relative. The house belongs to some other person. Around 2pm, a black SUV stopped in front of the gate. One of the men at the under-construction building came down to the gate as people alighted from the car. They asked me to open the gate so that they could park their vehicle inside,” Sinha said.

When Sinha did not oblige, the men turned violent and flung the gate open.

“I called the tenant as the goons barged in. After Firoz came out, the middle-aged men, took out hockey sticks and started beating him up. His two daughters were also roughed up and his wife was shoved. After some time, one of the goons went back to the vehicle and started it. The rest continued to assault the tenant and his daughters. The cry for help of Firoz and his family members drew attention of several people but before they could rush to the spot, the goons got into the vehicle and fled towards Boring Road,” the security guard added.

The family later went to the Buddha Colony police station and lodged a named FIR against one Satyendra Singh, who is said to be the landlord of the building. Sources said it was a tussle between the landlord and the tenant.

“Firoz and his wife Nuzrat Parveen earlier used to run a girls’ hostel in the house. The family has alleged that the landlord wanted to drive them out and was threatening them,” Vinod Prasad, the station house officer of Buddha Colony police station, said.

Nuzrat said: “We had asked for time so that we could find a new place to shift but Singh was constantly threatening us to move out or face consequences.” Prasad added: “Singh has lodged a counter-FIR as well. The police are trying to identify the assailants. Some hockey sticks have been recovered from the spot.”