Bollywood actress Mallika Sherawat and partner Cyrille Auxenfans tear gassed during botched Paris robbery

Actress Mallika Sherawat photographed the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc during this year's Cannes international film festival in southern France. Photo / AP

Bollywood actress Mallika Sherawat and partner Cyrille Auxenfans were the targets of a botched robbery attempt involving tear gas in a wealthy area of Paris, the Paris prosecutor's office said on Thursday.

Suspected robbers attacked the couple last Friday night in the building where Auxenfans lives in Paris' 16th arrondissement but fled empty-handed, according to spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre.

Kim Kardashian West was tied up and robbed at gunpoint in an exclusive Paris hotel at the beginning of October. Photo / AP

It's unclear why the suspects fled. A criminal inquiry has been opened into the incident.

The attack, in which the 40-year-old Indian actress and partner 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.

Rising to fame in India in 2003, the Bollywood actress went on to star in a string of high-profile movies including Myth with Jackie Chan and has a racy, sex-symbol image in her home country. She also appeared in the hit US television remake of Hawaii Five-0.Prosecutors said the couple refused to see a doctor to assess possible injuries, but that Sherawat was not thought to have been physically harmed in the attack.

Mallika Sherawat is a sex-symbol in her native Indian with nearly two million followers on Twitter. Photo / AP

Sherawa who has nearly two million followers on Twitter, is no stranger to France and has graced the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival.

Auxenfans, who specialises in real estate, owns the flat in the building where the crime happened. He is a frequent visitor to Mumbai - the capital of the Bollywood film industry - where the couple are often seen out on the town together.

The case comes six weeks after Kim Kardashian reported being robbed at gunpoint while visiting Paris.