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It was 8.10 pm on 8 January 1979. Naval with his son Jamshyd had just returned from Vikhroli to their 40-D. Ridge Road residence when the door bell rang. Naval opened the door to be confronted by a dishevelled, excited stranger wielding a deadly Rampuri Knife. Before Naval could recover from the shock, the stranger stepped forward and stabbed him twice in the abdomen. As he fell and lay bleeding on the floor, his daughter-in-law Pheroza rushed to help him and, alarmed by the commotion, his mother-in-law Gulbai came running to the door. The stranger wildly attacked the pregnant Pheroza, stabbing her also in the abdomen and thigh and then plunged his knife into Gulbai's stomach. Before Jamshyd, who was in the kitchen fetching a glass of water, could rush to his family's help, the assailant fled.

The assault threw business circles generally into a state of panic and highlighted the grim reality of deterioratin labour-management relations. It came in the wake of a spate of violent incidents involving rival trade-unions and managements. Three workers were killed in the Siemens' plant at Kalwa, after clashes over Dutta Samant's efforts to form a rival union. On 13 November 1977, the Personnel Manager of Britannia Biscuits was stabbed in the back and seriously injured. Two prominent labour leaders and four others were arrested. In a similar manner the management representatives of Forbes Chemicals, Cooper Engineering, Star Chemicals, Subhash Textile Mills, Shivaji Flour Mills Star Chemicals, Subhash Textile Mills, Shivaji Flour Mills and Zenith Steel Works had been asaulted. The continuing lock-out at Premier Automobiles was also brought about by interunion rivalry between Dutta Samant's and R J Mehta's unions.

Frantic telegrams were sent to the Central Government by, among others, the Indian Merchants' Chambers, the Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce, the All India Manufacturers Association and the Association of All India Engineering Industries. The messages correctly claimed that the assault was incited by a militant trade-union leader and was more a reflection of trade-union rivalry than of management-worker conflict.

In the meantime, a frantic Jamshyd rushed his father, his wife and grandmother to the Breach Candy Hospital. Because there was only a single operation theatre available, Pheroza there was only a single operation on first, while Naval lay in who was pregnant was operated on first, while Naval lay in agony. Pheroza had a miscarriage, and Naval was hospitalized for almost two months, with noted doctors Farokh Udwadia, Fardoon Soonawalla and Kersi Dastur fighting for his life.

The immediate reason for the attack on Naval was never clearly established. It was said that it was because he was handling the negotiations, taking a fair and firm stand, never giving in. Even the Union Minister for Labour told Sohrab that it was a political matter and had nothing to do with employer-employee relationships.

The Crime Branch of the Bombay Police arrested the militant trade-union leader Dr Dutta Samant and three others, all members of the INTUC, in connection with the assault. They were remanded to police custody for a week. The case against Samant was that the assault was a desperate gambit provoked by the realization that he had all but lost hold over the workers at Godrej, one of the largest engineering units in the western region.

Such was the outrage felt in trade circles generally in Bombay that a mammoth public meeting was held on Friday. 12 January, which expressed indignation and concern 'about the gangsterism in industry and trade obviously instigated by just a few so-called union leaders. The dastardly assault on a leading industralist and his family members at his residence on 8 January 1979 has shocked and filled wiht indignation not only all the representatives of trade and industry, but also the public at large.'

The resolution continued: 'What is even more serious is that this assault is a part of a chain of such assaults which have come in quick succession over the past year or so. Even if the wheels of law and order might have been moving in these casses of assault, the distressing feature is that neither the people instigating such assaults appear to be deterred in their utter lust for such actions nor the people have so far seen any signs which could relieve the reign of terror.'

The meeting decided to meet the Chief Minister of Maharashtra to put on record its strong protest and to make a few suggestions for industrial peace in the city. It stressed that only certain union leaders had been indulging in cruel and cowardly assaults for forcing their demand, either upon the management or upon the rival unions. In view of the numerous representations made to government, it should come out in a forthright manner and name the culprit -- be he the employer or the union - without sitting on formalities or permitting political considerations to stand in the way. The apathy with which things had been allowed to deteriorate was deplored and it was made clear to all concerned that employers would no longer allow themselves to be taken for granted and that they would themselves resort to effective measures so as not to expose themselves and the employees any more to such dangers.