Stalker stabs Delhi schoolteacher more than 20 times, held

NEW DELHI: A 22-year-old schoolteacher died after a man, whose marriage proposal she had allegedly spurned, stabbed her more than 20 times on a busy road in Delhi

NEW DELHI: A 22-year-old schoolteacher died after a man, whose marriage proposal she had allegedly spurned, stabbed her more than 20 times on a busy road in Delhi on Tuesday, the latest in a string of stalking-related crimes in the city.

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Police said the incident was witnessed by a large crowd but no one came to help the victim, identified as Karuna Kumar. Nearly 20 people on foot passed by as Surender Singh, 34, went on the stabbing frenzy. Fifteen vehicles also passed the spot.

CCTV footage of the incident showed the accused approaching the victim and stabbing her multiple times with a pair of scissors after confronting her at Burari in north Delhi.

After she collapses on the ground, he sat on her body and stabbed her on her face and chest, police said. He then circled Karuna and even kicked her, apparently to ensure she was dead.

Singh was later caught by passers-by who assaulted him before police arrived. Latest data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) shows that Delhi recorded 1,124 cases of stalking last year, almost a fifth of all such incidents across India.

Stalking was made a separate category crime in India in 2013 but such incidents continue across.

Tuesday’s incident came a day after a 28-year-old woman was stabbed to death in southwest Delhi by a man who claimed to be in love with her. Another woman survived after a shot fired by a man she had refused to marry hit her locket in Gurgaon on Monday.

Police quoted Singh as claiming that they were in a relationship but she cheated on him with another man.

In May, Singh, who is already married, allegedly attacked Karuna who managed to escape.

“We approached police (then)… but Singh’s father fell on our feet asking us to reach a compromise,” Rama, Karuna’s mother told HT. Police said Karuna’s family members did not want to file a case.

Police said that on Monday he took a SIM card he had given to her earlier, inserted it on his phone to read her Whats-App chats with another man. He told police Karuna had sent her intimate photos to the other man.