Cops to examine students' call records

As 21-year-old battles for life, police look at what provoked her classmate to attack her and kill self; want to study online conversations.

The police have not been able to determine whether there was any incident that provoked 21-year-old Nikhil Bankar to take the extreme step of stabbing his classmate multiple times and then committing suicide on Saturday.

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The victim, a 21-year-old third-year Bachelors of Management Studies student of Chetana college in Bandra (east), had been threatened by Bankar after she allegedly ended her friendship with him.

An officer from Kherwadi police station, which is investigating the case, said they are in the process of going through the call records and online exchanges that may have taken place between the accused and the victim on the days leading up to the incident.

Namdeo Chavan, deputy commissioner of police (zone 8), said: "While Bankar is no more, the victim is in hospital. We have not questioned the victim's family as it would be insensitive to do so when their daughter is battling for life. The accused's family was performing his last rites so we did not think it right to record their statement."

The Kherwadi police officer, on condition of anonymity, said: "The parents of the victim and the accused had got involved in the situation around a month ago as they were not happy with the proximity between the two. We are trying to find out if there was any immediate provocation for the boy to have taken such an extreme step,"

The police will be questioning the friends of the accused and the victim to find out if they knew anything more.

It was initially believed Bankar attacked the victim with a knife he took from home, but his family has told the police that they have never seen the knife before. "It is possible that he may have purchased the knife and kept it hidden. We are investigating the matter," the official said.

On Saturday morning, Bankar, a resident of government colony in Bandra (east) and the son of a sales tax officer, stabbed the victim eight times in the college building before the lectures for the day began.

He then stabbed himself with the knife. The duo was rushed to Guru Nanak hospital in Kalanagar, where Bankar died.