Bhubaneswar, Jan. 4: Unidentified criminals attacked a renowned musician, actor and theatre director last night in front of his house at Unit-VI.

The victim, Prasanna Mishra, 60, was returning home after directing a play at Rabindra Mandap around 11.30pm, when two youths stopped his car and attacked him. He managed to flee in his car and took another road to his house.

But when he parked the vehicle in front his gate, the youths appeared and attacked him again. Mishra suffered injuries on his face.

“I did not know why they attacked me. It was so sudden that I did not even get time to react. While one of the youths punched me on my face, the other one hit my car door with a cement slab. They did not appear to be in their senses. I was bleeding when I arrived at my door, but they attacked me again,” said Mishra.

Mishra’s son Abhijeet rushed to the gate seeing the youths attacking his father and tried to save him.

The attackers even punched him and threatened to fire at him.

“When we shouted, they ran away from the spot. We informed Capital police station officials, who reached us within 10 minutes,” said Abhijeet.

Mishra, who is a retired assistant audit officer in the state finance department, is a film actor, tabla player, dramatist and theatre director.

He won the state film award for acting in Agni Parikshya in 1980.

He said the police had seized the cement slab that was inside the car. The cops suspect the attackers to be local youths, who indulge in nefarious activities at night.

Inspector in charge of Capital police station Aseem Panda said the attack was the fallout of a minor accident. “We have received a complaint and are investigating the matter,” said Panda.