Stalker stabs BBA student, 19, to death near college in Aurangabad

AURANGABAD: A 19-year-old BBA student was stabbed to death by a young man, whom police described as a stalker, in the heart of the city around 2pm on Saturday.
The student, Sukhpreet Kaur, alias Kashish Granthi, had rejected his proposal for a relationship, the police said. The assailant stabbed Sukhpreet with a ‘kirpan’ (curved, single-edged knife) in the vicinity of Deogiri College in Rachnakar Colony on the railway station road, an officer said.She was a first-year bachelor of business administration (BBA) student of the college.
CCTV footage showed the man dragging the student along the road for nearly 200 feet before committing the crime, the officer said. An autopsy at the Government Medical College and Hospital revealed that she was stabbed 14 times in her neck and thrice in stomach. The police have launched a search for the assailant.
Based on a complaint lodged by the deceased’s elder brother, Harpreet (24), the Vedantnagar police registered an FIR against the man for stalking and murdering the student. Sukhpreet was the youngest daughter of a senior engineer employed with a bearings manufacturer.
Vedantnagar police station inspector Sachin Sanap said, “The victim’s eyewitness friend identified the assailant as Sharan Singh Sethi. Based on her information, Hemant named Sethi in the FIR.”
Crime branch inspector Avinash Aghav said Sethi’s parents were brought to the police station to get details about him. “We have named Sethi accused in the case. He has been missing since the crime,” he said.
Jaswinder Kaur Granthi, a Canada-based cousin of the victim, told TOI over the phone, “Sethi had been harassing Sukhpreet for quite some time. The issue was brought to his parents’ notice, but in vain.”
Commissioner of police Nikhil Gupta told TOI, “Witnesses have helped us identify the man and our teams will soon arrest him. The incident has highlighted a serious issue of such harassments not being reported to the police at the early stage. We appeal to the citizens to report any harassment faced by school and college students.”
The victim’s friend, Divya Khatlani, who was present at the time of the crime, told the police in her statement that Sethi was bothering Sukhpreet on Friday too. “I was with her on Friday. Around 11am, Sethi snatched Sukhpreet’s cellphone and keys of her two-wheeler. He then told her to join him at a hotel. I objected to the idea. He offered to return the cellphone and two-wheeler keys to Sukhpreet only if she went to a nearby coffee shop with him. Left with no option, Sukhpreet went to the first floor of the coffee shop with him. I waited on the ground floor,” she said.
“After a while, Sukhpreet came down from the first floor of the coffee shop and rushed out. Sethi ran after Sukhpreet, caught hold of her and dragged her for around 200 feet from the outlet. He suddenly brought out his ‘kirpan’ and stabbed her,” Divya said.
Crime branch inspector Avinash Aghav said, “On seeing Sukhpreet collapsing, Divya ran towards her. Sethi tried to attack Divya too, but she raised an alarm. On hearing her screaming, some people rushed to the spot. He had, however, fled by then.”
Divya alerted Harpreet, who immediately reached the crime spot. They took Sukhpreet to a private hospital, where doctors pronounced her dead on arrival.
The police have collected CCTV footage from in and around the crime spot and launched a search to arrest Sethi.