‘Disturbed’ man held for stabbing women in sleep
GHAZIABAD: The Ghaziabad police on Tuesday arrested a man in connection with the two stabbing incidents in Maharajpur locality of Sahibabad.
Police said that the man was “disturbed” reportedly after his wife abandoned him within a month of their marriage in 2014.
The suspect was identified as Sonu Prasad who is a daily wager and a native of Patna.
Police said that he came to Delhi on September 2 and started looking for a job, and also rented a room at Maharajpur, which is close to Delhi’s Anand Vihar.
Panic had set in the Maharajpur locality after the two women were attacked with a knife by an unidentified man over a span of 26 hours.
“We formed five teams to arrest the suspect whose images were captured on CCTV cameras. The suspect was nabbed from the railway tracks near Maharajpur and he admitted to the crime,” said Gyanendra Kumar Singh, superintendent of police (city 2).
Police said that they have recovered a knife from the possession of the suspect, and also found a T-shirt and a pair of shorts allegedly worn by the suspect during the two incidents.
According to police, it was Sonu who stabbed Shahnaz Ansari in the head on September 2 while she was sleeping and a day later, he attacked Hasnuma Khatoon with a knife while she was asleep.
“The suspect told us that he went to different houses in the locality to find a room on rent. He said that when he saw the women sleeping, he got infuriated and attacked them with a
knife. He was upset by his broken marriage,” said Ram Singh, SHO of Link Road police station where the two cases were registered.
In the first incident, the knife got stuck in Shahnaz’s head and she had to undergo a surgery during which the doctors pulled out the knife. In the second incident, Khatoon suffered a deep wound near her eye.
Police registered an attempt to murder case in the first incident while they registered a case for causing hurt by dangerous means/weapons in the second incident.
Police said they suspected a ‘psychologically disturbed’ man behind the attacks.
Some policemen in plain clothes were deployed in the area, while police also roped in informers to trace the suspect. All the CCTV cameras in the area were scanned, a senior police officer said.
Investigating officers said that the locals were also sensitized about the suspect who wore a T-shirt and shorts during both the incidents. “After the two incidents, the man was still roaming around in the area, but was finally traced. Had he moved on to some other locality, it would have been difficult for the teams to trace him,” said an officer of Link Road police station, asking not to be named.