According to her daughter Kanika, the incident occurred around 8.45 pm. “They threaten my mother with a pistol, but she refused to given in. Then they hit her on nose with the pistol butt, but she started shouting and alerted neighbours,” she said. “All this was happening in the veranda. I went inside and locked it. I also kept shouting for help, and soon the robbers fled.”

Gupta is the wife of an associate professor at IAS Academy, Mussoorie. “I told them they cannot rob my house, and did not let them take anything away,” she said.

The police have registered an FIR against unknown motorcycle-borne assailants. “The daughter went inside and shouted that the police have been called, but by then the woman was hit on the nose. The assailants fled before they could enter the house,” Anant Dev, SP (city), Ghaziabad, said.