Pune:
IT engineer Amitkumar Sharma (24) was yesterday booked on charges of attempting to murder his childhood friend from Patna, Infosys employee Niharika Gopal Prasad (24), and later attempting suicide in front of the Sushila girls' hostel in Sadashiv Peth on Sunday evening.
The Dattawadi police recorded Prasad's statement, on the basis of which they registered a case under Section 307 (attempt to murder) and 309 (attempt to commit suicide) of the Indian Penal Code against Sharma. The police said Sharma was angered by Prasad's refusal to enter into any sort of romantic relationship with him.
As Sharma was still under medical observation yesterday, his statement was yet to be recorded by the police.
The police said Sharma attacked his school friend with a blade around 6.15 pm on Sunday in front of her hostel.
Prasad received injuries on her neck and stomach, while Sharma had self-inflicted injuries on both his arms and neck. Both were operated upon in different hospitals. Prasad works in the accounts department of IT major Infosys, while Sharma is in search of a job after completing his engineering from Amravati near Nagpur.
"Doctors have told us that Sharma is out of danger but he's not in a position to speak," said Assistant Police Inspector Balasaheb Kale from the Dattawadi police station. "He will take a day or two to recover and after that we will record his statement and complete the formalities of arrest."
In her statement, Prasad said that Sharma had proposed to her on the evening of the attack and that she had refused to enter into any relationship. "In a fit of rage, Sharma had attacked Prasad with a blade cutter," said Kale.
Having come to the city in 2005, Prasad had been living at the Sushila hostel for the past two years.
The police said Prasad had introduced Sharma to the hostel authorities and her friends as her brother, and he used to drop her to the hostel many times.