How Dharwad police arrested a man who killed a 20-year-old paramedic, sent ‘SOS message’ to her father

According to the police, the woman had completed her paramedical course last year and was seeking work.

“There had been discussions about marriage, though no engagement had been fixed. Investigations suggest that the victim wanted to continue working, and had a resistance to marry, which made him suspect her of being involved with someone else, which reportedly triggered the attack,” a police officer said.

A meeting, an SOS and a murder

The police said the woman left home Tuesday evening, telling her family she was going to a lab, but never returned. Her mobile phone was switched off, and her family’s attempts to trace her were unsuccessful.

Police investigations revealed that the accused, a driver, called the woman Tuesday evening and picked her up around 5.15 pm. Around 7.30 pm, the two reportedly had an argument inside the man’s car. The police said the man attacked and fatally stabbed the woman in a fit of rage, fuelled by suspicion and frustration over their relationship.

After killing her, the police said the accused drove around with her body before dumping it in the field in the early hours of Wednesday. In an attempt to mislead the family, the accused allegedly accessed the woman’s mobile phone and sent messages to her father and to himself

“Main marne ko jaa rahi hoon, mujhe bacha lo (I am going to die, please save me)”, the man wrote, making it appear as though she intended to die by suicide.

The police have recovered Sabir’s car and mobile phones as part of the investigation. Several messages and location data from the devices helped trace the accused. The victim’s body has been sent for postmortem, and CCTV footage from nearby areas is being examined to reconstruct the events.

A case has been registered under charges of murder and destruction of evidence, and further investigation is underway.