Edison restaurant owner slashed, pistol whipped during robbery

EDISON, New Jersey (WABC) -- The owner of a restaurant was slashed and pistol whipped during a violent robbery in New Jersey Tuesday.

Authorities say Sunil Pendse, who operates Shezan Restuarant and Banquet Hall on Oak Tree Road in Edison, was attacked by a pair of armed robbers looking to steal some cash.

"They wanted money," Pendse said. "That's all."

There was no pot full of gold hidden in the office of his modest Indian banquet hall, but that didn't stop the suspects from ransacking it in their fury.

"They were pushing me," he said. "I was holding the chair. They pushed me, so I fall down. The computer, just like over there, they smashed. They were making a scene."

He said the robbers seemed to just pop up out of nowhere around 5:30 p.m., but because he usually gets a lot of walk-ins with questions, the front door is generally unlocked. He said one man smacked him in the face twice with a gun and threw him into the table and on the floor.

"Two guys, first he hit me, then the second guy," he said. "One guy was pointing the gun. This guy, he had the knife. They hold me by the neck, and they keep beating me and put me in there."

That's when the pair forced him down the hall and into his office, demanding he open the safe, as one of the men stabbed him in his right arm. They took the cash he had and locked him inside the office before they took off.

"Every time, they were using the word 'we'll kill you, we'll shoot you, show me the money,'" he said. "Lucky I had the money I had. Thank God I'm alive."

Anyone with information is urged to call police.