RAIPUR: A 24-year-old man was arrested on Saturday for allegedly stabbing a 19-year-old pharmacy student to death inside her paying guest accommodation in Chhattisgarh’s Bhilai after she rejected his advances and blocked his phone number. The victim, Khushi Sahu, a native of Kumhi village in Bemetara district, had recently moved to Bhilai to pursue a pharmacy course at a private college. She was also working part-time at a café in Vaishali Nagar to support her education. Police identified the accused as Pintu Sahu, a resident of Balodabazar district. According to investigators, he had been obsessively pursuing Khushi and repeatedly calling her from different mobile numbers over the past month after she blocked his original number. Investigators said the accused reached Khushi’s rented room in Ramnagar on Friday. At the time, her roommate was in the bathroom and Khushi was alone in the room. Police said an argument broke out after the accused confronted her. He allegedly tried to strangle her before attacking her with a knife, inflicting around 10 stab wounds to her abdomen, back and hands. She died from excessive bleeding before she could be rescued. The murder came to light when the roommate returned and found Khushi lying in a pool of blood. The house owner alerted the police, who rushed the victim to a hospital, where doctors declared her dead. During the investigation, police learnt that Khushi had informed her brother about a week earlier that a man was repeatedly harassing her over the phone. The accused had also threatened her brother two days before the murder. Investigators further found that he had warned the owner of the café where Khushi worked, asking him to make her quit her job and marry him instead. Police said the knife used in the crime had been purchased online. After the murder, the accused fled towards Raipur, where he was arrested. He was brought back to the crime scene on Saturday for a reconstruction of events as part of the investigation. Police are probing when the murder was planned and whether it was premeditated.
