A 30-year-old teacher was stabbed to death inside a private school in Faridabad on Monday after an alleged stalker dragged her out of a classroom and attacked her in full view of students and staff, police said.
CCTV footage of the horrific incident showed the assailant stabbing the woman more than 25 times before fleeing. He was arrested from Kot village in Faridabad about two hours later, still wearing blood-stained clothes, officers said.
Police identified the victim as Sandhya Karhana, a resident of Firozpur Kalan, who taught Class 2 at Saraswati Senior Secondary School in Sikrona. She is survived by her husband and two children, aged eight and five.
Investigators said Karhana reached school around 7.30am and was taking class when the accused, his face covered with a white cloth, entered the campus through the main gate around 9.35am. According to police, the security guard was not at the entrance at the time, effectively allowing the stalker to enter unchecked.
An investigator, requesting anonymity, said the accused first approached two students and a staff member, asking them to call Karhana outside on the pretext that her husband had come to meet her. Witnesses told police the man knew her husband’s name.
Police said around 300 to 350 students from Classes 1 to 12 were on campus when the attack took place, with many witnessing it from classroom windows.
A senior police officer said the accused stabbed Karhana at least 25 times in the neck, chest and abdomen in an attack lasting barely 30 to 40 seconds. “The entire incident was captured on CCTV,” the officer said.
School director Tejpal Sharma, who witnessed the attack, said he rushed out of his office after hearing screams. “I initially thought someone had been electrocuted because of the rain. When I came out, I saw the man repeatedly stabbing Sandhya,” he said.
Sharma said he tried to intervene but the assailant turned on him. “He attempted to stab me as well. I ran inside to get a stick while raising an alarm. By the time I returned, he had escaped,” he said.
Karhana was rushed to Al-Falah Medical College and Hospital, where doctors declared her dead on arrival, Sharma said.
A case under Section 103(1) (murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita was registered at Sector 58 police station.
Faridabad police spokesperson Yashpal Yadav said crime branch teams arrested the suspect by 11.30am.“He had not even changed the blood-stained clothes he was wearing during the murder. His actions, including stretching himself moments before the attack, indicate that the crime was premeditated,” Yadav said.
Police identified the accused as Amit, who had allegedly known Karhana from when she worked at a private school in his native Kot village two years ago. According to the investigator cited above, he began stalking her after that, prompting her to sever contact and recently warn him that she would approach the police if he continued harassing her.
“The victim’s husband has also alleged that the accused had been stalking and harassing her for several months,” Yadav said.
Police said the accused will be produced before a court on Tuesday to seek custodial remand for further interrogation. Karhana’s body was handed over to her family after the postmortem examination.
