Hubballi, 17 May

A 22-year-old man was arrested on charges of killing a young woman in her home here, after she allegedly rejected his marriage proposal, police said on Friday.

Girish Sawanth stabbed Anjali Ambiger (20) multiple times at her home at Veerapur Oni here on Wednesday and absconded. "The accused was nabbed on Thursday night from Davanagere with the help of the Railway Police," Hubballi Dharwad Police Commissioner Renuka Sukumar said.

"He (Girish) sustained injuries on his head and face after he allegedly fell off from a train. We are probing what exactly happened in the train. He was admitted to KIMS Hospital at around 4.30 am," she told reporters here.

A preliminary inquiry revealed that after killing Anjali, Girish travelled by train and buses to various places in Maharashtra and Goa to avoid getting arrested, she added. Another police officer said that Girish allegedly had got into a fight with a woman in the train on Thursday. He allegedly tried to attack the woman with a knife. When the woman started shouting for help, her family members and other passengers confronted the accused. To escape getting beaten up, he allegedly jumped off the train and got injured. Later, he was taken to Davanagere district hospital for treatment.

Later, the accused was taken into custody and interrogated during which it came to light that he was an accused in a murder case involving a young woman who was stabbed to death. Subsequently, he was handed over to the Hubballi, which is investigating the murder case, he added.

The accused was found to be previously involved in four bike theft cases, police said, adding that further investigation is underway. A police inspector and a woman head constable were suspended on charges of dereliction of duty over the murder of the young woman, as they allegedly did not take it seriously when her family complained about death threats from the perpetrator, before the gruesome murder took place.

The victim's family said they had complained to the police that the accused had threatened the victim saying she would meet the same fate as 23-year-old college student Neha Hiremath, who was stabbed to death by her former classmate at her college campus in Hubballi on April 18. PTI