Chennai: A man stabbed his former colleague to exact vengeance after he was reportedly sacked from the company following a quarrel with her. The woman was heading to work when the attack took place on Jagathambal street, West Mambalam on Wednesday morning
The assailant was nabbed with the help of a local who set his two pet street dogs upon him on witnessing the incident unfold.
Suchismitha (31), who is from West Bengal, has been working for the past 3 years in the R&D wing of truck manufacturer Ashok Leyland. She suffered injuries in her stomach and is being treated in a private hospital. Preliminary investigations revealed that the assailant, Ragunath (24), was employed on a sub-contract with the company. The resident of Perungudi who is a native of Sivakasi and graduate in mechanical engineering from Coimbatore, had had previous enmity with Suchismitha.
“Ragunath had run into Suchismitha while boarding the company bus last July and had reportedly touched her fingers. While he maintained it was a mere accident, Suchismitha escalated the quarrel by approaching her father who is a senior executive in the same firm in a branch up north. Her father took up the issue with the Chennai division, which in turn approached its sub-contractor who terminated Ragunath’s services last July end”, said a senior police official who is privy to the investigation.
“A jobless Ragunath left for his native place after the incident. He came back to the city a couple of months ago and joined his friends in Perungudi. He was aware of her bus pickup routine and he managed to hack her in his maiden attempt at such a crime. He had lain in wait on his bike since 6 am and he intercepted her around 6.30 am when she was walking towards where she would be picked up. An argument ensued and he pulled out a paper cutter in a flash and stabbed her repeatedly in her stomach”, the official said.
“If not for the dogs, I wouldn’t have been able to nab him. He was pointing the knife at me and I ushered my ‘Puppy’ which went after him along with my other pet. He tripped and we nabbed him”, said Ram, an autorickshaw driver.
“We are aware of the unfortunate incident earlier this morning. Thankfully, she is out of danger due to timely medical care and attention by fellow colleagues. Prima facie, it appears to be a case of personal vendetta. We are extending all cooperation to the investigation authorities. Safety of all our employees is of prime importance and we will ensure all care and attention is taken to avoid such incidents in future. This is an unfortunate happening. The attacker was a not an employee of Ashok Leyland. He was a sub contract employee”, read a statement from Ashok Leyland.
