india

Updated: Mar 26, 2016 13:39 IST

A national-level volleyball player was hacked to death while she was practising with friends at Notunpukur in the outskirts of the city on Friday.

The victim, 14-year-old Sangita Aich, was a Class 9 student who had played volleyball twice at the national level and thrice at the state level. Police said the attacker, identified as Subrata Sinha (20), was reportedly furious over Aich spurning his advances several times in the recent past.

According to police, Sinha arrived at the practice camp on Friday evening and demanded that Aich speak to him. When she refused, he advanced towards her with a cleaver. According to NDTV, the girl’s coach — Swapan Das — tried to save Aich by trying to beat Sinha back with a chair. A frightened Aich scrambled for her residence, located barely 100 metres away, but Sinha caught up with the girl and allegedly hacked her to death.

“If Tina had stayed with me, he would have had to kill me first. And he may have too,” NDTV quoted Das as saying.

She had been in a relationship with me for the past two years-Accused in volleyball player Tina Aich murder case pic.twitter.com/Wx1fxK2AMa — ANI (@ANI_news) March 26, 2016

I had been reduced to take the extreme step after I found out that Sanghita(Tina)had been cheating on me-Accused in murder case — ANI (@ANI_news) March 26, 2016

The assailant then allegedly brandished his bloodied weapon at bystanders and escaped from the spot.

Sinha, a resident of Shyamnagar in North 24-Parganas, is also a national-level volleyball player. Police said they have launched a manhunt for him, and raided several places — including his house — in this connection.

Aich’s relatives have alleged that though Sinha threatened her on several occasions in the past, complaints made to the police were ignored. Her father, who runs a business in the area, was not in a condition to comment.