Woman stabbed to death, suspect arrested: Police

Sutapa Chowdhury, a third-year student at Berhampore Girls’ College, who hailed from Malda’s Englishbazar area, was killed outside her college mess on Monday. The accused, 22-year-old Sushanta Chowdhury of Malda district, has been arrested, police said.

Sources said CCTV footage shows the accused purportedly stabbing her in front of some of her neighbours. The accused allegedly pulled out a gun and threatened to open fire on onlookers before fleeing, the sources added.

“The arrested accused has confessed. Preliminary investigation indicates that the accused had been in a relationship with the victim. However, she ended the relationship and moved to Behrampore for studies. Several issues cropped up between them thereafter and efforts were made to resolve these with the help of local politicians. The accused was carrying a knife and a dummy gun,” Murshidabad SP K Sabri Raj Kumar told The Indian Express.

According to the police, the accused rang up the victim on her mobile phone around 7 pm, asking her to step out and settle an argument. As soon as she came out, he attacked her, police said, adding that as the woman raised an alarm, some neighbours tried to help but the accused threatened to kill them.

After the crime, the accused tried to escape to Malda but was nabbed on the way, police said.

“1 Accused, 3 District Police, 4 Hours. With effective blockades along NH 34. Malda, Jangipur and Murshidabad police coordinated excellently to nab the accused in a case of assaulting a woman,” tweeted Bengal police on the arrest of the accused.

Several students residing in the mess at Gorabazar left the place after the incident.

The victim’s father claimed that the accused had been threatening her.

“Sushanta met Sutapa around three years ago and had been in a relationship with her. But they broke up later. As my daughter stopped talking to him, Sushanta started blackmailing, threatening and intimidating her. We sought the local councillor’s help to make him [Sushanta] understand that Sutapa wanted to continue her studies and that he shouldn’t disturb her,” said Swadhin Kumar Chowdhury, the victim’s father.

“The last time I spoke to my daughter was around 11 am on Monday. She said she needed some money. Later, the police informed me that my daughter had met with an accident. She was dead when I arrived at the hospital,” he added.

Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari tweeted, “Clear sign of deteriorating law and order situation in Bengal. I want to know when are you (CM) sending (a) fact finding team to Behrampur? Under your regime, criminals’ morale has gone up. I suggest you take the responsibility of deteriorating law and order condition and resign.”

In response to Adhikari’s tweet, TMC state spokesperson Debangshu Bhattacharya claimed, “The accused is a

BJP worker,” he said. TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said, “Suvendu Adhikari should instead talk about incidents in Uttar Pradesh…”

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, “What is the use of having so many police personnel and CCTV cameras in a crowded place if a man stabs a woman to death in such a manner. I believe that he (the accused) was getting help and support of some local…”