The Mohali logistics firm employee who had brutally stabbed his colleague to death at their office in June this year was in a “one-sided relationship” with the victim and had hatched the plan to kill her just four days before the incident and ordered two knives online after she snapped communication with him.
This was revealed in the nearly 300-page chargesheet filed by the Mohali police in the Dimple Khatri murder case on Saturday.
Khatri, 30, was working at her desk on June 4, when the accused, Harjinder Singh Mann, 33, had approached her from behind and opened an attack.
Closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera footage, later retrieved from the spot, purportedly showed Mann repeatedly stabbing her as she ran across the office, trying to escape.
Police said he stabbed her around 30 times in about 35 seconds. Employees present there tried to intervene, but Mann continued the assault and Dimple died at the spot.
After killing Dimple, Mann allegedly turned the knife on himself and attempted suicide by cutting his throat. He suffered critical injuries and remained hospitalised for several days. Police formally arrested him under Section 302 (murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita after his discharge on June 9 and later obtained his police remand. He is currently lodged in Ropar jail.
Investigators found that Mann had been trying to contact Dimple after she distanced herself from him and allegedly blocked him on multiple platforms. Police are also examining the accused’s conversation with Dimple’s brother shortly before the murder, when he allegedly asked why she had stopped speaking to him.
{{/usCountry}}Investigators found that Mann had been trying to contact Dimple after she distanced herself from him and allegedly blocked him on multiple platforms. Police are also examining the accused’s conversation with Dimple’s brother shortly before the murder, when he allegedly asked why she had stopped speaking to him.
{{/usCountry}}Dimple’s family had told police that she planned to resign from the job and return to Patiala.
Station house officer (SHO) Aman Baidwan said police had completed the investigation and filed the chargesheet within the stipulated 90-day period. He said the statements of 35 witnesses, CCTV footage, two knives allegedly ordered online by Mann, blood-stained clothes, screenshots of conversations and bank account details had been included in the chargesheet.