He slashed hard at her neck and then kept stabbing her until she died. Not done yet, he threw petrol on the woman and set her on fire, said police. She was 29.

The disturbing incident, which took place in the early hours of Tuesday morning, was reported from Katihar in eastern Bihar.

It being a Tuesday and a day of her fast, Yashoda Devi, a teacher, having performed her puja, set off for school, Pakadia Prathmik Vidyalaya, said her family.

“The victim was on way to her school at around 5:30 am. She was repeatedly attacked with a knife. Having killed her, the man threw petrol on her and set her on fire,” said Abhijit Kumar Singh, Sadar Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Katihar.

“The attacker and the victim were in a relationship in the past. Post her marriage, the relationship between the two came up before a local panchayat,” the police officer added.

Hulchul Kumar, the accused, is on the run, the police added. Earlier, he had attacked the victim’s husband, Parmesh Rai, in February.  

“She was my wife. The same man had attacked me in February (points to the mark on his face). Today is Tuesday, her day of fasting. After her morning prayers, she set off for school. He was hiding around the corner. He slashed at her neck. With her falling down, he again attacked her and kept at it until she died. Then he threw petrol on her and set her on fire,” said Parmesh Rai, her husband, with tears streaming down his face.

A picture from the accident site showed the badly burnt woman, face down on the ground, the yellow of her saree merging into a black (of charred flesh) and red (of blood) with her husband sitting a few feet away, looking on.

In another picture, the victim’s mother, slumped over her daughter’s body, pulls up the shroud to cover her face. Scores of women and village people crowd around her. A collective cry goes up.

Bengaluru:

The daughter of a Congress corporator has died after being stabbed seven times with a knife by a former student of the college she was attending in Karnataka’s Hubbali. Her attacker has been arrested and police said it appears that he carried out the killing because she had rejected his advances.

Neha Hiremath, daughter of Congress corporator Niranjan Hiremath, was a first-year Master of Computer Applications student at the BV Bhoomaraddi College of Engineering and Technology in Hubballi. Officials said she had known her attacker, Fayaz – who also studied with her at the college, but later dropped out – for some time.

Around 5 pm on Thursday, Neha was walking inside the campus when Fayaz confronted her. CCTV footage shows a couple of sentences being exchanged between them before Fayaz attacks her. Neha falls to the ground after being stabbed the first time and Fayaz goes on to knife her at least six more times.

Fayaz then makes a run for it while some students chase after him.

Fighting back her tears, Neha’s mother said, “I came to pick her up and spoke to her over the phone. Within five minutes of our conversation, chaos erupted and someone mentioned she had been stabbed. I haven’t seen her face yet and I still believe our daughter is alive. I can’t accept that she’s gone. I’m not ready to see her in that state. We sent her to college with the hope that we would see her smiling.”

Hubballi Dharwad Police Commissioner Renuka Sukumar said Neha was rushed to a hospital, but declared brought dead.

“The accused had fled, but we arrested him in under 90 minutes. Other students have told us that Neha and the accused knew each other and had studied together. We will know more once the accused’s interrogation is done,” she said.

A large group of right-wing activists gathered outside Hubballi’s Vidyanagar police station and shouted slogans.