MUMBAI: In a strange twist of fate, a 23-year-old youth who knifed his girlfriend in an auto at Dahisar (east) on Monday night died minutes later in a hit-and-run on the same stretch. The 17-year-old girl, who received 13 stitches, is recuperating in the ICCU of a private hospital.

Anil Dandekar was a distant relative of the victim and drove an auto for a living. An orphan, he lived with his cousins in the same neighbourhood at Kajupada, Borivli (east), as the victim. While police claim the duo had been seeing each other for the past two years, the girl's family has refuted it. They claimed Dandekar's was a one-sided love.

On Monday, the victim, who is pursuing her HSC in Commerce from a Goregaon college, left home around 5pm to attend her tuitions at Ashokvan, Dahisar (east). The lectures concluded by 7pm. As she started for home, Dandekar, who was waiting outside her class in his auto, asked her to come along in his vehicle, which he steered towards Western Express Highway. The two spoke for some time before an argument broke out between them. Around 9pm, Dandekar halted the auto near an MNS office on WEH and pulled out a knife and stabbed the girl in her jaw and throat four times. Watching her bleeding, he panicked and left the auto with the girl in it.

Just as Dandekar, whose auto was parked on the south-bound stretch of WEH, crossed the road and reached the north-bound stretch, a speeding vehicle hit him.

With the driver of the unknown vehicle not stopping, Dandekar, who had sustained serious injuries, died on the spot.

Around 9.30pm, a passing ambulance halted on WEH noticing a crowd of people. The ambulance driver, Manoj Hirve, spotted Dandekar's body and a few minutes later, the girl's silhouette in the auto. He rushed her to Shatabdi Hospital in Kandivli (west) while a doctor, present in the ambulance, administered first-aid. The girl was later moved to a private hospital at Borivli.

"The victim is not in a position to speak, so we have recorded her sister's statement. A case of attempt to murder has been registered against Dandekar who does not have a previous crime record. As he is no longer alive, we will file an abated summary before court. A separate case of causing death due to negligence has been registered against the driver of the unknown vehicle who mowed down Dandekar," senior inspector Prakash Jadhav of Dahisar police station said.

Officials said Dandekar had planned the attack in advance as he was carrying the knife along. They will quiz the victim about what had prompted him to take the drastic step. "None of the bystanders moved Dandekar's mutilated body to the hospital. After a local called up the control room, our officers went to the spot and moved the body," said Jadhav.