Bollywood actress Mallika Sherawat and her French partner were teargassed and hit by three masked intruders outside his Paris flat in an apparent botched robbery, prosecutors confirmed on Thursday.

The attack, in which the 40-year-old Indian actress and partner Cyrille Auxenfans, 45, were set upon with tear gas and he is thought to have been beaten, came weeks after reality TV star Kim Kardashian was robbed at gunpoint in the French capital.

The assault took place when the pair arrived at Mr Auxenfans' residential building in the chic 16th arrondissement of Paris at 9.40pm.

But the assailants fled empty-handed, according to Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre of the Paris prosecutor's office, leaving a shocked Ms Sherawat and her friend to call the emergency services.

A criminal inquiry has been opened into the incident.