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Alipurduar, Jan. 6: Residents of a tea garden today lynched a youth minutes after he allegedly slashed to death a college girl who had spurned his advances.
Today around 10.30am, Rahim Tudu, a resident of Birpara, attacked Sulachana Tirki, 24, with a dagger at Dalmore Line of Nimati Tea Estate. The woman, who was hit in the neck, died in the kitchen of her house.
Sulachana was a second-year BCom student in a college in Chennai and had come home on December 24 for the the winter vacation.
According to her mother, Narbek Tirki, their neighbour Prasanto Tirki was Rahim’s friend and Rahim used to visit him often.
During those visits, Prasanto used to bring Rahim to their house to talk to Sulachana. Although Rahim tried to be friendly with the girl, Sulachana hardly spoke to him.
“Rahim often used to come to our house with our neighbour Prasanto. He used to talk to Sulachana but my daughter did not respond. She had come home to spend her holidays as she studies in Chennai. Recently, when Rahim came to our place, Sulachana asked him not to talk to her or to come to our home,” the mother said.
Today, when Sulachana was working in the kitchen alone, Rahim suddenly entered the house and allegedly attacked her with a dagger.
He hit the girl in the neck and rushed out towards the Kaljani river near the house.
Hearing a noise, Sulachana’s elder sister Victoria went to the kitchen and found Sulachana lying in a pool of blood. She also saw Rahim running out of their house with the dagger.
Victoria raised the alarm and some local people caught hold of Rahim. What followed was an example of extreme mob justice — akin to the demands several protesters recently made in Delhi in the aftermath of the brutal December 16 rape.
In the tea garden, the youth was tied to a lamp post and thrashed by a mob of nearly 40 people for about half-an-hour.
Around 11.45am, Kalchini police reached the spot and somehow managed to free Rahim but he died on way to the Latabari health centre.
Nimati tea garden is in Kalchini, 23km from Alipurduar town.
“This morning, Rahim suddenly came, entered the kitchen and killed her. We could not understand anything. We thought he had come to talk to Sulachana,” said the mother.
Sulachana’s father is a railway employee.
Akash Magharia, the additional superintendent of police, Alipurduar, said: “Rahim was in love with the girl. But I think it was a one-sided affair. This morning Rahim attacked the girl with a dagger and she died on the spot. When he (Rahim) was running away with the weapon in his hand towards the Kaljani, he was caught by the local people and beaten up. We rescued him but he succumbed to injuries on the way to Latabari hospital. The doctors declared him dead. We have started an investigation. The local people should not take the law in to their own hands.”
According to local people, Rahim, who has studied till Class X, was jobless.
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