Unrequited lover kills 16-yr-old schoolgirl

MUMBAI, Dec 16: A 16-year-old student at Saravli near Kone village in Bhiwandi was brutally killed today by a 21-year-old youth because she...

MUMBAI, Dec 16: A 16-year-old student at Saravli near Kone village in Bhiwandi was brutally killed today by a 21-year-old youth because she refused to respond to his advances. Ramesh Baburao Wagh had been shadowing Chhaya Patil for the past two months and despite several rebuffs from her continued his efforts to woo her.

Last week when a scared Chhaya realised that Ramesh had begun following her everywhere she complained about him to her father Sambhaji Patil. She also pointed him out to her father in the market place after which Patil went and confronted Wagh. Ramesh not only unabashedly professed his love for Chhaya but also went on to ask him her hand in marriage immediately.

An enraged Sambhaji Patil slapped him, warned him to stay clear of his daughter and threatened him with dire consequences if he failed to do so.

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This public insult obviously did not go down well with the unrequited lover who began biding his time to avenge the humiliation. He found his opportunity today when Chhaya, who studied in Std VIII in the Atgaon Vidyalaya, stepped out for school with her cousin Manisha Patil who lives in the neighbourhood.

Ramesh, who was waiting for them along a lonely stretch on the Bhiwandi-Kalyan road, pounced on the duo. A frightened Chhaya dropped her satchel and tried to escape. Ramesh then caught hold of her, stabbed her eight times with a pointed object wrapped in a cloth on the abdomen, neck and shoulder. While a profusely bleeding Chhaya died on the spot, a hysterical Manisha began screaming in fright. Alarmed by this Ramesh tried to attack her too but she quickly put her satchel in between and her books took the brunt of those gashes.

"I abused him and told him that he would hang for his deed," Manisha reminisced which probably scared him and he scooted. With the aid of some of her schoolmates who were coming that way a message was sent to Chhaya’s parents who rushed both her and Manisha to the Indira Hospital in Bhiwandi.

The former was declared dead before admission and the latter is still recuperating from shock. "It must be our sins in our previous birth we are paying for," was all that her father said as he broke down while speaking to this reporter.

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The Shantinagar police have already launched a man-hunt for Ramesh who is still absconding. According to them he was given to bouts violence and had even made a murderous attack on his own father a few months back. Irritated by the constant nagging because of his continuing unemployment, Ramesh had in a fit of temper tried to crush his father’s head with a boulder. It was his mother’s timely push that saved him. His shoulder was however decapacitated for life. Waghs parents have been detained by the police.