The Pune City police arrested a 26-year-old man for allegedly assaulting a woman with a wooden stick on Tuesday for rejecting his advances. The woman sustained a head injury in the attack and was left bleeding. Her condition is said to be stable. The police identified the accused as Sanket Shahaji Mhaske, a resident of Koregaon Park area. The 36-year-old woman, who is a resident of Yerwada, lodged a complaint against Mhaske at Koregaon Park police station on Tuesday. According to the police, the woman, who is a divorcee and works at an IT firm in Pune, was was friends with the accused for a few months but started avoiding him after he expressed a romantic interest in her. The police said that around 7 am on Tuesday, Mhaske approached the woman near the Burning Ghat crematorium in Koregaon Park when she was visiting a friend. The FIR quoted the woman as saying: "After I got down from the rickshaw and was heading towards the friend's house, the accused came from behind and held my hand and told me that he loved me. He said that if I couldn't be his, he will not let me be with anyone else. When I said to him that I don't love him, he assaulted me with a wooden stick. He hit me on by left elbow and then the right elbow. When I fell down on the knees, he struck a blow on by head. I started bleeding and cried for help." Senior Police Inspector Nilima Pawar said, “We have arrested the accused. A court has remanded him to police custody for three days. Further investigation is on.” The police have booked Mhaske on charges of attempt to murder under sections 307, 323, 504 of the Indian Penal Code.
