Jun 8, (Mid-day): The 24-year-old stabbed the girl after she told him she could no longer meet him as her parents disapproved; he killed her after she said she wanted to focus on academics instead

After five months of chatting on Facebook, a 24-year-old youth couldn’t handle it when his considerably younger girlfriend decided to dump him because her parents were opposed to the relationship. He stabbed her to death on Saturday night, after she told him that she could no longer see him, as she had to focus on academics.

The accused, Prateek Kubal, is a hardware engineer at a private firm and resides in Virar with his parents. The 16-year-old victim lived in the slums near the Jogeshwari caves and the two had known each other since childhood, as they both hailed from Malvan, in Sindhudurg. They hit it off when the girl went to her hometown on a recent visit with her parents.

They kept in touch through Facebook and fell in love five months ago. With the girl’s Std X Board exams approaching, her father got worried when he discovered how much time she spent chatting online with Kubal. He warned her against wasting time and spoiling her future, after which the victim began to avoid chats and calls from Kubal.

He tried to contact her several times and finally called the victim and asked her to meet him one last time on Saturday. He had a few pictures of the two of them together, which the girl wanted to collect from him.

“The duo met near the talao on Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road around 5 pm,” said SPI Santosh Bhandare from Meghwadi police station, adding that when she said she would never meet him again, Kubal got angry and attacked her with a knife he was carrying.

Crime of passion

He stabbed her four times on her chest, abdomen and arms. He then began slashing his wrists as well, at which point passers-by caught wind of what he had done and began to thrash him.

 Youth stabs lover and himself after break-up

The mob handed him over to the police and the girl was rushed to the hospital but did not survive the ordeal. Kubal had to undergo treatment for his injuries as well, after which he was arrested.

“We first took Kubal to Cooper Hospital where he got stitches and later arrested him for murder. As per the preliminary investigations, it seems that it was one-sided love affair, but as of now we have not interrogated the accused.

We will question him to know the exact reason behind the murder,” said a cop. During the panchnama at the crime scene, the police found bottles of alcohol as well as a few pictures of the couple. They believe that Kubal murdered the girl in an inebriated state.