DADAR ATTACKER SORRY FOR NOT BEING ABLE TO KILL HIS WIFE Rahul plays navigator to Omar
MUMBAI: A day after Vijay Sangelkar brutally attacked a chartered accountancy student at Dadar mistaking her for his wife, he was full of remorse.
But the 35-year-old was sorry merely for the mistaken identity, not for his original intent.
Sangelkar, the police said, was unhappy that he could not kill his wife as he had planned.
On Monday, Sonal S Lapashiya, a student of chartered accountancy, was walking to a bus stop at 9am when the farmer attacked her with a sickle in full public view. Only when the victim’s scarf fell off her face did he realise she wasn’t his wife.
On Tuesday, a local court remanded Sangelkar to police custody till Friday. His wife told the police that she suspected him of having an illicit affair.
Sangelkar, a native of Sawantwadi in Konkan, and Vaishali got married in 2007 but their relationship soured within a year. “Many people, including the police, tried to help them reconcile, but to no avail,” said DCP Dattatray Karale.
Vaishali lodged a complaint of harassment in 2009 against Sangelkar and his family. “Sangelkar was angry as he had to shell out money for the court proceedings,” said Karale.
On Sunday, Sangelkar came to Mumbai and bought a sickle in Andheri. He then met Vaishali, who lives with her mother in Nallasopara, but could not muster the courage to kill her in front of their four-year-old son.
He then asked her to accompany him to Dadar to talk, as Nallasopara station was crowded. Vaishali boarded the ladies compartment, but changed her mind and got off the train.
Sangelkar again convinced her to meet him at Dadar the next day. But on Monday, he attacked Lapashiya, mistaking her for Vaishali. Suspecting his intent, Vaishali had not gone to Dadar station on Monday. AMETHI: Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi steered clear of the Gujarat polls and quota in promotion bill on Tuesday, choosing instead to be the navigator in his parliamentary constituency for Jammu and Kashmir CM Omar Abdullah.
Gandhi was in the passenger seat while Abdullah drove around Amethi villages, where the two leaders spent more than six hours interacting with women of self-help groups (SHGs) and locals.
On exit polls favouring the BJP in Gujarat, Gandhi appeared unfazed and said, “Let’s see what happens.” Asked about quota in promotions, the Amethi MP said he would speak only about the development in his constituency.
Gandhi gave Abdullah a feel of the working of SHGs established to empower women at the grassroots. A group of women from Kashimpur village got an invitation from Abdullah to visit Jammu and Kashmir to help set up SHGs.
“Do shake hands with him. You have to help him when you go there,” Gandhi told the women, as he introduced them to Abdullah.
An elated Sita Bharati, who heads an SHG in Kashimpur, said, “We will go there soon to help the women.”
Abdullah said following the panchayat elections in his state, he had been looking for development models to make women self-sufficient.
“Rahul Gandhi has implemented schemes for uplift of women in his constituency. We will replicate some of these schemes in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
Abdullah was not shielded from niggling issues. At Girdhari Ka Purwa village, local Ram Lal’s house served as the venue for Gandhi, Abdullah and senior Congress leader Saifuddin Soz to interact with the public.
“Do you have a ration card? Do you have a job card under rural job scheme? Do you get power?” Gandhi asked Lal, who replied he was not getting work despite having a job card. Villagers also told Gandhi about problem areas in development schemes.