A cab driver stabbed a 27-year-old woman after she allegedly turned down his persistent advances and then attempted to kill himself in Guwahati’s Last Gate on Thursday morning.
Police have apprehended the accused, Bhupen Das, who had subsequently attempted to end his life by inflicting self-injuries after stabbing the woman, Moushumi Gogoi. He was rushed to the Guwahati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH).
CCTV footage, accessed by the police, purportedly showed a man get out of a car and move towards a woman about to leave on a bike, talking to her for a while and then attacking her multiple times while she was seated on the bike outside the entrance of her rented apartment. The man then leaves the crime scene in the car he had arrived at the site.
The stabbing took place at 10.30am. Gogoi was rushed to the GMCH but was declared dead at 12.15pm. She was stabbed in her neck, abdomen and hand. “We tried to revive her but could not,” a doctor said.
A police officer said preliminary investigation revealed Das allegedly wanted to have "a romantic relationship" with the deceased, who rejected his advances. "But Das kept pressuring her and eventually attacked her today (Thursday). This is what we have gathered so far. Investigation is under way," the officer said.
Soon after the incident, a special operations group was tasked with tracking the accused. Reports suggest that the deceased had lodged a harassment complaint with the Pan Bazar police station against the accused. The police had reportedly summoned the assailant to the police station in connection with Gogoi’s complaint on Thursday.
Assam director-general of police (DGP), G.P. Singh, wrote on X: “Reference stabbing incident of a young girl at Nahorni Path Guwahati. The assailant has been detained. He has self-stabbed himself and is being admitted to the hospital."
The deceased, hailing from Dibrugarh district, had lost her husband in a road accident a few years ago and has a son. She was living in a rented room in an apartment. The assailant hailed from Nalbari district, and is married with two kids.
The deceased used to work in an NGO associated with the health sector. The NGO is located at Zoo Road, and the woman used to take a Rapido bike to work every day. The eyewitness, the Rapido bike driver, said he had moved away when the accused tried to talk to the deceased. He said everything took place in a jiffy. "It was scary," he said. However, the wife of the accused has claimed the deceased had "harassed them for four-five years".
"I don’t know her. Have only seen her photos,” she told reporters, suggesting that the victim and the accused had known each other for some time.
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