Striking at lightning speed with a safety razor blade, a frenzied man is allegedly vanishing in the crowd leaving his victims with gashes.

He attacked six minors and a just-adult in the past two days in Patna City. Barring one, all his victims so far are girls.

Perplexed police have drawn a sketch of the “Blade Man” — named by scared residents on the lines of infamous “Monkey Man” of Delhi and “Stoneman” of Calcutta — based on the description of his victims. Its copies have been circulated in all police stations in the Patna City area.

The man is most active in the morning hours. He struck four times on Wednesday between 9am and 10.30am . On Tuesday, he attacked two minor girls — Rajnandini Kumari (10) and Soni Kumari (8) at Hazari Mohalla between 9am and 10am.

Around 9am on Wednesday, a man came from behind and slashed the arms of 12-year-old Hema Parveen with a sharp object at the Batau Kuan area under Khajekala police station. She was on her way back home from the market.

Hema told The Telegraph: “When I turned, I saw a tall man sporting a white cheque shirt and dark trousers running. Soon he disappeared in the crowd. My arm was bleeding and I rushed home with excruciating pain.”

Sources said Hema raised an alarm. But the assailant fled before people could react.

An hour on, he struck at Dehura ki Haweli market area. Eighteen-year-old Jyoti Kumari, a resident of the Dehura Ki Hawali area, was at the receiving end there. She was also on her way home from the market.

“Jyoti was also attacked with a sharp object. When we took her to a doctor, he told us the wound was a result of an attack with a blade. She received eight stitches. She is frightened to talk about the incident and did not see the assailant,” Amit, the brother of Jyoti, told The Telegraph.

Half-an-hour later, the frenzied man struck again at the Loha Ka Pul area. He slashed 10-year-old Muskan’s arm with the blade and disappeared.

After lunch break, he was back in action at 2.20pm under the jurisdiction of Mehendiganj police station. He attacked Sunny Kumar (8), a resident of the Udhrampur area under the Mehendiganj police station. Sunny was on his way back home from school when the man slashed his face with the blade.

When complaints about the crazy man started trickling in, the police swung into action and assembled all his victims at one place. Based on their description, a sketch of the “Blademan” was prepared.

Deputy superintendent of police (Patna City) Sushil Kumar said: “The police stations and the patrol teams have been asked to be on a alert. But until now, there has been no trace of him. We are not certain about the weapon he is using to inflict injuries on others. But it seems he is using a safety razor. The man might be a psycho. The police are trying to zero in on him.”

An officer of Khajekala police station said people did not take man seriously yesterday, as he struck just twice. But they became alert on Wednesday after a spate of attacks and started coming to the police station, the officer added.

Police sources said the serial attacks in the city over the past two days reminded them of the “Monkey Man” of Delhi.

“We had heard about the Monkey Man menace in Delhi in 2001. The incidents here are identical. A man is striking at will and vanishing. In such incidents, the police have an added hassle of handling rumourmongers. People should stay away from speculation,” another officer said.

A monstrous creature that looked like a monkey allegedly attacked a number of persons in different parts of Delhi in May 2001. There was a mass hysteria over Monkey Man. A number of people were injured and killed in accidents as they tried to escape from perceived threats of the Monkey Man.

The police released sketches of the Monkey Man in their attempt to nab the attacker but could not make any arrest.