On Wednesday morning, Tejaswini, a 20-year-old diploma student, set out from her home to go to college. What should’ve been a regular day in the woman’s life turned near fatal, when she was brutally attacked allegedly by Sudhakar Reddy, an older man who had been stalking her for months.
Sudhakar and Tejaswini are from the same locality of Kavitam village in Poduru mandal, West Godavari.
Around 8.30 am, as Tejaswini went about her daily routine, parking her cycle near the village centre before boarding a bus to the nearby town of Penugonda, 35-year-old Sudhakar allegedly hacked her from behind with a huge knife. After the weapon struck the back of her head and neck, the woman collapsed on the street in a pool of blood.
Sudhakar, who is separated from his wife and is seeking divorce, had allegedly been stalking Tejaswini for almost a year, according to Poduru police. “A couple of months ago, she had even complained to her family,” police said.
According to Tejaswini’s relative Srinivasa Reddy, elders in the community had warned him to stay away from her. “We made him sign a declaration that he would stop stalking her. Since then he had stayed away, until this attack,” Srinivasa Reddy claimed.
Soon after allegedly attacking her, Sudhakar consumed a poisonous substance in an attempt to take his own life. Sudhakar was admitted to the Palakollu government hospital while Tejaswini has been taken to the Eluru ASRAM hospital for treatment. According to the police, doctors have declared that both of them are out of danger. Multiple news reports had earlier wrongly claimed that the woman had died from the attack.
Police have said that Sudhakar Reddy has been booked with IPC Section 307 (attempt to murder).