Man stabbed a final-year student of chartered accountancy mistaking her to be his estranged wife.
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MUMBAI: Matunga police arrested a farmer from Ratnagiri for
allegedly stabbing a final-year student of chartered accountancy on
Monday. Sonal Lapashiya (25) was attacked at around 8.45am when she was
standing at a bus stop near Swami Narayan Mandir in Dadar (east),
allegedly by Vijay Sangelkar (35), who mistook her to be his estranged
wife.
Police said constable Sanjay Rane, who was in the area when
the incident occurred, rushed to the spot and saw Vijay standing with a
blood-soaked sickle while the victim was lying on the road. Vijay
learnt he had attacked the wrong person only when Rane removed the scarf
from Sonal's face.
Vijay confessed that he attacked the victim
seconds after he saw her walking out of Dadar station. "It was a case of
mistaken identity. He got confused on seeing the victim wearing a
salwar-kameez similar to what his wife wore the previous day. He
attacked the victim without seeing her face which was covered with a
scarf," said Matunga police senior inspector Suresh Parab.
The
victim, who was attacked with a sickle on her head, throat, shoulder and
hand, has temporary memory loss and will require multiple surgeries to
get back on her feet.
Sonal was rushed to Sion Hospital, where
doctors who knew her brother, also a doctor, informed him of the
incident. She was later shifted to Bombay Hospital in Marine Lines. Her
brother told TOI that she suffered partial memory loss due to her head
injury and seemed to remember nothing about the incident. Police,
however, said the victim gave a brief statement saying, "I was waiting
to catch a bus to go to a library in Matunga to prepare for my CA
subjects when an unknown man attacked me from behind."
He said
Sonal sustained grievous injury to her head. "She has a skull fracture
and part of her brain is exposed. She also has a jaw bone fracture," he
said. The attacker also left her with deep cuts on the throat that are
obstructing her food and wind pipe, besides deep wounds on her left hand
leaving the bone exposed.
Vijay, who hails from Mukham Post in
Sawantwadi, reached Mumbai on Sunday morning to kill his wife Vaishali
(27). The couple had been separated since 2009, and he was depressed
after his family members maintained a distance from him after they were
arrested for dowry harassment in 2009 on his wife's complaint. They were
later acquitted in the case.
"Vijay wanted to kill his wife on
Sunday and called her to meet him at Nallasopara station. But he failed
to attack her as she came with their four-year-old son. Then he asked
her to meet him at Dadar station on Monday for one last time before he
took the train from Diva junction," said deputy commissioner of police
(Zone IV) Dattatray Karale.
Parab said the accused confessed that
had he confirmed the identity of the victim, he would not have attacked
her. "He bought the sickle on Sunday afternoon at Andheri before
heading towards Nallasopara. On seeing his son with his wife, he asked
her wife to come with him alone but she refused, so he planned to kill
her the next day," he said.
Investigators said Vijay plotted to
kill his wife after he spent over Rs 3 lakh to fight the dowry
harassment case filed against him and his family and also faced
maintenance claims from her.
He has now been booked under IPC section 307 (attempt to murder) and will be produced before the Bhoiwada court on Tuesday.