Suicide, knife attack mar Valentine's Day

KOLKATA/HOWRAH: Valentine’s Day was smeared in blood in Kolkata as a woman jumped to her death at Howrah station, in front of hundreds of passengers, and a spurned lover slashed a girl in the middle of rush-hour. Workplace romance was to blame in both cases.
Shibpur resident Swati Dutta was critically injured in the 40-foot fall from a bridge, shattering her pelvis and lower limbs.She clung to life for seven agonizing hours before dying in a Howrah hospital.
Swati, who was in her early 20s, jumped off Bankim Setu at Howrah station around 1.15pm. Passengers waiting on Platform No 14 heard a thud and found a girl writhing in a pool of blood. She was taken to Howrah General Hospital.
Police found her ID and contact details from her handbag and informed her family. She was employed with a private company in Kolkata and was studying for a commerce degree from Ignou. Over the last year, she got involved with a colleague only to learn that he was married. It made her depressed but she still tried to continue with the relationship. The youth refused, leaving her shattered.
Family sources hinted that she was supposed to meet him on Valentine’s Day but he again turned her down. Distressed, she jumped off the bridge. Police found a one-line suicide note from her handbag, saying she did not blame anyone. “We are trying to find out why she tried to kill herself,” said Akhilesh Chaturvedi DC DD-Howrah.
The knife attack took place on EM Bypass in Kalikapur in the middle of a crowd of office-goers at 10am. Commuters were shocked to see a youth lunge at a girl just as she was getting into an auto. He grabbed her by the waist, pulled out a knife and started slashing her frenziedly. She struck out her arms to defend herself and was slashed badly in the right arm. A commuter jumped into the melee to protect her but was also slashed.
The crowd scattered in panic on seeing the two drenched in blood. The attacker was still wildly waving his knife. A traffic sergeant heard the screams and tackled the slasher. He overpowered him, pulled the knife from his hand and kept him down until back-up arrived to arrest him.
The attacker was identified as Ranjit Barik, a resident of Mullickpur in Baruipur. He and the girl are colleagues and struck up a friendship about six months ago. It turned into a relationship but when the girl refused to marry Barik, he turned violent, say police. Barik was waiting for the girl at the bus stand to attack her, police say.