Stalker stabs 20-year-old woman to death on Mumbai highway after demanding answer to his proposal

A 25-year-old youth stabbed Prachi Zade in broad daylight off Eastern Express highway because he wanted an answer to his ‘proposal’.

A 20-year-old woman was stabbed to death in broad daylight off the Eastern Express highway (EEH) on Saturday morning after a man accosted her demanding an answer to his ‘proposal’.

Prachi Zade was first followed by Akash Pawar before he accosted her on the road and then stabbed her. Zade’s family had filled a complaint earlier this year claiming Pawar was stalking her. (Praful Gangurde/HT Photo)

Prachi Zade, a Thane resident, was on her way to work on her two-wheeler when Akash Pawar, 25, stopped her vehicle just off the EEH, near the Regional Transport Office (RTO), Thane. Preliminary investigations revealed that Pawar pulled Zade off her two-wheeler, abused her and demanded an answer to his “proposal”. He was heard telling her that is she wasn’t going to be ‘his’, he wouldn’t let her be with anyone else.

Pawar then stabbed Zade multiple times and fled the scene, leaving Zade bleeding on the roadside. In the process of running away, Pawar was injured when he stepped in front of a moving bus. Onlookers saw him get into an autorickshaw after this accident. He was later arrested from a friend’s house.

Police records further show that earlier this year, Zade’s family had filed a non-cognizable (NC) complaint against him.

Two eyewitnesses told police that some onlookers photographed Zade on their phones as she lay fatally injured, and no one helped them when they tried to get her to a hospital. When they were unable to hail an autorickshaw or any other vehicle, the two eyewitnesses approached a beat marshal at Wagle Estate police station for help. The three of them took Zade to the nearby Criticare Hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

She was then taken to Thane Civil Hospital.

Deputy commissioner of police D Swami said, “We came to know that the girl is dead and we immediately formed a team to nab the accused and found that Pawar is involved in this incident.”

According to the police, Pawar, a college dropout, had been waiting for Zade since 8am at Kopri Bridge. After she left her home at 10:50am, Pawar followed Zade on his two-wheeler for approximately a kilometre before stopping her. Swami said, “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.”

The police located Pawar, who was hiding in a friend’s house in Bhiwandi, at around 2pm. According to their records, Zade’s family had filed an NC complaint against Pawar in June this year, alleging he was stalking Zade. Pawar, a resident of Bhiwandi, was given a warning by the police and told to stay away from Zade. Since no first information report (FIR) was filed by either Zade or her family, Pawar wasn’t arrested. Pawar has now been arrested under Sections 302 (murder) and 341 (wrongful restraint) of the Indian Penal Code.

Zade’s body was claimed by her family on Saturday.