(This story originally appeared in on Jan 5, 2017)

Close on the heels of the Kammanahalli incident where a girl was allegedly molested by two men recently, another girl, 18, was attacked and stabbed by a stalker in the city’s North division on Sunday afternoon. The accused who claims to be an assistant director in Sandalwood has been arrested. The accused was stalking her on the promise that he would cast her in his new Kannada movie. Unable to bear his harassment, she avoided him. On Sunday, she was going to wish her friends when she was stabbed in public.The police have identified the accused as N Gajendra, alias Gaja, 24, of Whitefield. The accused was arrested on Monday afternoon from Hegganahalli Main Road.The victim who is pursuing her PUC stays in Peenya II stage. On Sunday afternoon at around 12 noon, she had gone outside her house to wish her friends for new year and Gajendra, who kept stalking her since the last 20 days kept following her. Under the pretext of wishing her for the new year, he stopped her and forced her to talk.When she tried to avoid him, he started abusing her and pulling her jacket. She was also reportedly humiliated in public. Thereafter, he started forcing her to marry him and if she did not, he threatened to kill her. When she raised an alarm, the accused pulled out a knife and stabbed her on her neck. When locals started rushing to her help, the accused fled the scene. The victim was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital.“The victim has stated that she had gone to see the launch of Kannada movie Nanishtaa, Ninishtaa at Hegganahalli cross on December 4. The accused who was present at the shooting set came near the victim and introduced himself as Ganjendra alias Gaja, claiming to be the assistant director in Sandalwood. He claimed he was directing the movie ‘Cute’ and would caste her as the heroine. Believing in him, the victim gave him her mobile phone number. Since the next day, he started harassing her over the phone asking her to meet him in person to discuss the movie. Suspecting foul play, the victim kept avoiding him stating that she would discuss the issue with her parents,” said an officer part of the investigations.Within the next few days, he proposed to her and started harassing her to marry him. Realising his immaturity, she kept avoiding him. However, on Sunday, he managed to find her near her house. It appears that the accused was stalking her while she went to college. When she spurned his proposal, he became violent and attacked her.“The condition of the victim is stable. She is undergoing treatment. The accused fled after her father and a few locals rushed to her rescue. If there was a slight delay in helping her, the accused would have harmed her more. We are ascertaining his claims of being an assistant director. We are also checking if he is involved in similar crimes,” the officer added.The accused has been booked for stalking (IPC 354D), voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means (IPC 324), intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace (IPC 504) and criminal intimidation (IPC 506).Further investigations are on.