A 22-year-old man allegedly stabbed a 22-year-old bank executive in her neck, slashed her face with a knife, then stabbed himself in the stomach and slit his throat as she had purportedly rejected his advances, outside the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) in Borivli (East) on Wednesday afternoon.

According to the Kasturba Marg police, an autorickshaw driver among the many people at the spot, alerted the police and the two were rushed to Shatabdi Hospital in Kandivli, where they are critical, but stable.

The police said Kunal Bavdane, a travel agency employee from Walkeshwar, knew the woman from childhood and on Wednesday, convinced her to meet him near Omkareshwar bridge at around 1.30pm.

According to the police, a heated argument between the two led to Bavdane stabbing her multiple times in the face, neck and hand, following which he took her phone. Bavdane then slit his neck and stabbed himself in the stomach , after which the auto driver intervened.

The woman’s father, who is also a bank employee, told HT, “We made a mistake by not approaching the police when he used to constantly harass her.”

The police learnt that Bavdane had apologised to the woman’s father a month ago for his constant stalking of her, even after she and her family had left Walkeshwar several years ago and moved to Bhayander.

“Just a month ago, the accused and his uncle came to our house, touched my feet and apologised. He told me he will not stalk my daughter any more after I had warned them that I would complain to the police. I never imagined this to happen,” he added.

According to a relative of the woman, the accused found her on Instagram a year ago. The woman told him that she was not interested in a relationship, but he still kept stalking and pursuing her. “He had also told her cousin that if she does not accept him, he would kill himself,” said the victim’s uncle. “We have registered an attempt to murder case against the accused,” said deputy commissioner of police Vinay Rathod. The knife has been recovered. The police are checking the CCTV footage.

First Published: Jan 31, 2019 08:46 IST