Satadru Roy shows his wound. Picture by Amit Datta

An unidentified duo caught trespassing into a south Calcutta residence on Wednesday attacked two members of the household with a dagger and fled by the time police responded to a seventh request to send a team.

Three constables from Kasba police station reached the New Ballygunge Road residence over half-an-hour after the first complaint was lodged over phone, the family said.

The intruders had by then escaped after slashing 22-year-old Satadru Roy’s chest and his uncle Tapas’s arm. While Satadru was back home in the afternoon with some bandages, his uncle was admitted to Ruby General Hospital.

Tapas, a BSNL employee, was the one who had first spotted the assailants within the partially walled compound of his three-storeyed house. On being asked who they were, the duo claimed to be local residents. But neither of them would give their names or addresses.

“I was studying in my room when my uncle called me downstairs. I sensed that the youths, who spoke in Bengali, had come to our area for some criminal activity and alerted our neighbours,” Satadru said.

Some neighbours came to the Roy residence immediately and advised the family to call the police.

“I dialled Kasba police station and the officer who took the call said a team would reach our residence soon. But they kept us waiting. We were anxious because the two youths were trying to break free of our grip all the time,” Satadru said.

The police allegedly treated it seriously only after he had called the seventh time. “Every time I called, the officer said the team would reach within five minutes,” the youth said.

Around 30 minutes had passed when one of the intruders managed to free his right hand and take out the dagger tucked under the waist of his trouser. “We were scared and let go. The other youth took out a razor from his trouser pocket,” Satadru said.

The one brandishing the dagger lunged at Satadru and then went for his uncle’s throat, who shielded himself with his hands and ended up with a deep gash in his arm.

“I received five stitches but my uncle’s injury is more serious,” said Satadru, who had tried to chase the goons but couldn’t catch up with them.

Ajey Ranade, the superintendent of police of South 24-Parganas, said he would investigate whether Kasba police delayed sending a team. “If any officer is found guilty of negligence, action will be taken.”