“What can we say? We are new to this city and we don’t know anybody. Doctors aren’t allowing us to see her. They say she’s serious and under observation,” said mother Geeta when asked about Preeti’s condition. Geeta came to the city by a morning flight from Indore on Wednesday and rush-ed straight to the hospital. Preeti’s father has been waiting since last night.

Preeti, 24, is lying in the trauma ward, under observation, with severe head injuries after being attacked by robbers in her house at Dadar’s railway colony early on Tuesday morning. She was staying with her uncle Animesh Ganguly, a railway workshop employee, and had just returned from work—a Wipro call centre in Badlapur—when she was attacked.

Acting dean of the hospital, Daksha Pandit, said: “Preeti has received a severe head injury and is in a critical condition. We can’t say anything now. We have kept her under observation and will have to wait and watch.” Pandit said the hospital gave a detailed account of Preeti’s condition to her uncle Animesh on Tuesday. “We are now doing everything we can,” she said.

According to investigating officials, Animesh Ganguly, who was in Indore at the time of the attack, received a call from Preeti’s cellphone, which was one of the things the robbers had taken away. Senior Police Inspector Madhukar Sankhe said: “We have gathered that a call had been made to Preeti’s uncle Animesh from the stolen mobile phone after the attack.”

Sankhe said that they were still to record Preeti’s statement since she had not regained consciousness completely.