: In yet another case of a crime triggered by unrequited love, a girl pursuing post-graduation in Bharathiar University here has been stabbed on her neck with a broken bottle by a youth whom she had befriended on Facebook after she allegedly refused to reciprocate his love.
According to the police, the accused Vemburaj (28) accosted the girl Kanagalakshmi (21) near the entrance of the university campus on Wednesday afternoon and picked up an argument with her as to why she was not accepting his proposal to marry her. During the course of a heated argument, he broke a glass bottle and stabbed the girl on her neck and fled from the spot. Onlookers rushed the victim to a private hospital. On Thursday, the police who had learnt of the incident, obtained a complaint from her. Police said Vemburaj, a native of Mudukulathur in Ramanathapuram district, had befriend Kanagalakshmi, a resident of Uppara Street in Gandhi Nagar, Coimbatore, on Facebook around four months ago. On one occasion, he proposed to her via Facebook, which she turned down. Since then he had been calling her regularly on her mobile phone and pestering her to marry him.
Based on the complaint, the police picked up the accused, who is unemployed, and produced him before a judicial magistrate. He has been remanded in custody. A case was registered against him under sections 294 b (Using obscene language and gestures), 506 (ii) (Criminal intimidation) and 324 (Causing grievous hurt) of the Indian Penal Code read with Section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prevention of Harassment of Women Act. Kanagalakshmi’s condition was stable and she would be discharged soon, the police said.
