My daughter found him everywhere': Mother of woman stabbed by stalker
New Delhi: A day after a 21-year-old woman was brutally stabbed to death with scissors in broad daylight by a stalker, the victim’s mother said the accused Surender Singh used to follow her daughter everywhere. “Wherever my daughter went, she found him there,” said Karuna’s mother, Rama.
Karuna was attacked by 34-year-old Surender Singh who stabbed her nearly 22 times in a span of two-and-a-half minutes as passersby looked on in north Delhi's Burari area. The incident drew outrage as CCTV footage of the frenzied stabbing was aired by media, prompting the Centre to seek a report from the Delhi Police.
The victim, Karuna Kumar, worked as a teacher at Novel Riches School along with her cousin Neha. Both of them were on their way to the school when Karuna was suddenly attacked by Surender with a pair of scissors near Labour Chowk in Burari around 9 am, police said.
As Surender caught Karuna off guard and plunged the single blade of scissors in her body, a man rushed to stop him but soon backed off fearing attack on himself. Within two-and-a-half minutes, Surender had stabbed Karuna 22 times, they said.
Neha was also threatened by Surender and had to back off but she kept shouting for help.
According to a Hindustan Times report, Surender travelled seven kilometres every morning just to follow Karuna to school and he would wait for six hours outside the school gate to follow her back home. Surender would click photos and make videos of Karuna, he also used to send her hand-written notes and claimed to love her, but she had turned down his proposal.
Reportedly Surender had been stalking Karuna for the past six months and he stabbed her after he found about her alleged affair with another man.
Karuna used to learn computer at the training centre owned by Surender and he fell in love with her, police said.
“She changed her route to school, but he followed her there as well. She used to dread going out at night as she knew he would be waiting for her outside the house. He had all the information about my daughter’s whereabouts. He threatened to tarnish her image by morphing and circulating her photos and threatened to kill her and both her brothers. We went to the police with a complaint, but Singh’s father urged us to come to a compromise, assuring that his son would behave,” Rama was quoted as saying
Surender is the son of a retired Delhi Police sub-inspector. He is going through divorce proceedings and has two kids.
“I have disowned him six years ago. I have nothing do with him. He has behavioural issues. We used to get a lot of complaints about him. I tried to put him on track but he never listened,” said Surender’s father.
The CCTV footage showed that the accused came on a bike with another man and hurriedly got down before stabbing the girl who staggered and fell down as she tried to save herself.
The brutal attack did not stop there and he kept on stabbing the helpless girl like a maniac even as some petrified passersby watched unable to take any action.
Karuna was rushed to Sushrut Trauma Centre in Civil Lines where she was declared brought dead by the doctors. Surender was beaten up by the locals, who caught him and handed him over to the police. He was taken to Aruna Asaf Ali Hospital with head injuries but later shifted to LNJP Hospital.
A case under section 302 IPC (murder) has been registered against the accused, said DCP (North) Madhur Verma.
A Delhi court on Wednesday sent Surender Singh to police custody for four days. Metropolitan Magistrate Muneesh Garg remanded Surender to police custody till September 25 after the cops produced him before the court and apprised him about his crime.
The Centre has sought a report from Delhi Police over the brutal murder of the girl. "We have sought a fact report from Delhi Police Commissioner over the incident. Whatever happened is very sad," Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju told reporters.
Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia expressed shock over the gruesome incident while hitting out at the Delhi Police, saying instead of "harassing" AAP legislators the force should focus on security of people. "Shocking incident in Delhi of stabbing of 21-yr old woman. Delhi Police needs to focus on citizen's security than harassing AAP MLAs," he tweeted.
