Canadian biochemist Joseph Hulse, who received the Padmashree at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi last week, has been mugged in Manchester where he had stopped on way home to attend a school anniversary dinner.
Hulse, 85, one of the world's leading experts in biotechnology, had withdrawn 2,000 pounds from a bank in Manchester's busy St Ann's Square when two men grabbed his jacket and fled with the cash.
Hulse, who was born in Manchester, was in the city to attend the 75th anniversary of his alma mater, the Audenshaw Grammar School.
A distraught Hulse told the local media that he went into St Ann's Church after withdrawing the cash from the bank. He had put the money in his jacket pocket in the bank.
As he walked out of the church two men claimed he had something on his jacket that needed cleaning, pulled it from his back, threw it on the floor and ran off.
"When I picked it up the money had gone. I am still very upset about what has happened. I am sure the men who robbed me were tipped off," Hulse said, adding I have never been robbed before. I am just so shocked that it happened to me in Manchester.
{{/usCountry}}"When I picked it up the money had gone. I am still very upset about what has happened. I am sure the men who robbed me were tipped off," Hulse said, adding I have never been robbed before. I am just so shocked that it happened to me in Manchester.
{{/usCountry}}The Manchester police said they are investigating the mugging.
After schooling and higher education in Britain, Hulse moved to Canada in 1952 where he became chairman of the Canadian National Freedom From Hunger Campaign, which raised 350,000 dollars to establish a training centre in India.