A 20-year-old woman was stabbed to death allegedly by her former classmate on the Eastern Express Highway in Thane on Saturday morning, said the police. The accused, 23-year-old Akash Pawar, who initially fled the scene, was arrested from Bhiwandi. The police have charged him under Sections 302 (murder) and 341 (wrongful restraint) of the Indian Penal Code.
The woman was on a scooter when the accused stopped her near the Regional Transport Office on the highway and stabbed her several times, reported The Times of India. She died at the spot.
Deputy Commissioner of Police D Swami told the Hindustan Times that Pawar was carrying two knives – one in the back seat of his two-wheeler and another in his pocket. “Pawar pulled out the knife from his pocket and attacked and stabbed Zade many times,” said Swami.
Two eyewitnesses told police that even as the woman lay injured, a few onlookers photographed her on their phones and no one helped them take her to a hospital. The eyewitnesses approached a beat marshal at Wagle Estate police station for help when they failed to stop any vehicle. The three then took her to the nearby Criticare Hospital, where she was declared brought dead.
Pawar, who used to study with the woman in junior college, reportedly stalked her, according to The Times of India. According to police records, the woman’s family had filed a non-cognisable complaint against him earlier this year after Pawar had assaulted her. Her father, Vikas, said, “[The] Police had initiated chapter case proceedings under Section 107 of the CrPC and we thought that was the end of her ordeal.”
The police had warned Pawar and told him to stay away from the woman, reported the Hindustan Times. Since no FIR had been filed, he was not arrested.
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