A 21-year-old student pursuing his CA articleship is battling for his life in Sion Hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) after being allegedly abducted and brutally assaulted by three men over Rs 10,000. The youth, a resident of Sion, was initially rushed to the hospital’s emergency ward in critical condition with head injuries, bruises on his face, and swelling on his back. Doctors later confirmed that he is currently out of danger but has a fracture under his eye.

According to the police, the student was returning home from a Ganeshotsav event around 2.30 am on Saturday, September 6, when he was stopped by a man named Prasad Sakpal, who had been pressuring him for months to pay a so-called “settlement fee” linked to an old quarrel. Sakpal, along with two unidentified accomplices, allegedly forced him onto a scooter, took him to Wadala’s Bhim Nagar area, where they beat him with a wooden stick before extorting Rs 10,000 through online transfers.