A 21-year-old woman was stabbed to death in Malappuram district of Kerala by a stalker on Thursday, June 17. Drishya, a resident of Elanad was stabbed to death at her residence around 8 am. Her 13-year-old sister Devasree, who tried to block the attack was also seriously injured. Vineesh Vinod, 21, who had been stalking Drishya for a while, was taken into custody by the police. The shop owned by Drishya's father Balachandran, was set ablaze on June 16, and police suspect that Vineesh is also behind this.
Police said that it was a planned murder and the accused reached Drishya's house with a knife. Vineesh broke into the house and attacked Drishya and Devasree who were on the first floor. Their mother was in the bathroom when the assault took place.
Some of the locals allege that he set fire to the shop so that Balachandran would go there in the morning and avoid running into him. Devasree has been admitted to a private hospital. Local residents took the siblings to the hospital.
The accused tried to escape in an autorickshaw, but was nabbed by the driver, who took him to the Perinthalmanna police. "This person (accused), rushed towards me saying he met with an accident and he wanted me to take him to Perinthalmanna. On the way somebody called me and said that he committed this crime. Then I took him to the police station, though he tried to run, one of my friends who was in the station caught him," Jauhar, the autorickshaw driver, told the media.
Relatives of the victim told the media that earlier the family had lodged a police complaint about the accused as he had been stalking her. As per reports Vineesh and Drishya were classmates and she had filed the complaint in April. After the complaint was filed, the police had let him off with a warning.
