JNU student axes classmate, commits suicide

New Delhi : In a sensational campus crime, a student of Jawaharlal Nehru University calmly walked into a classroom armed with an axe and a pistol Wednesday, asked a girl to walk out with him and, when she refused, drank poison and then slashed her.

He died while the girl is battling for her life.

The incident took place at around 11 a.m. in the sprawling JNU campus of India’s premier university known for being a hub of radical thinking and leftist ideology.

Akash, 23, seemed well prepared for the vicious attack as he was armed with a pistol, an axe, a knife and a bottle containing poison.

He walked into room number 213 of the School of Languages, in between two classes when not many students were present, and screamed at Roshni, 22, asking her to accompany him.

Roshni declined.

An incensed Akash tried to fire at her with the locally-assembled pistol. But that did not work.

He then drank the poison and pounced on her with the axe, hitting her five times on the head. Before her stunned classmates could react, he took out his knife and slashed his own neck.

The assailant and victim both slumped to the ground in a pool of blood.

“Akash was taken to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) trauma centre, and he died after a few hours. Roshni was taken to Safdarjung Hospital, where she is still in critical condition,” a senior police officer said.

“We have recovered a country-made pistol, a bottle of poisonous substance and an axe from the spot,” the police officer said.

A student said a besotted Akash had been pursuing Roshni for the last two years. Both the attacker and the victim were from Bihar and were in the third year of the Korean language course.

Kamal Mitra Chenoy, professor in JNU School of International Studies, said Akash was not happy with the lack of response from the girl.

“The JNU staff is very upset this incident happened. We are shocked,” he told IANS.

A senior doctor at the Safdarjung Hospital said: “We are trying our best. She is in a very critical condition”.

Police officials said a four-page note written in Hindi by Akash has been recovered in which he had written that he was angry with Roshni for declining his proposal to have a relationship with him.

According to friends, Akash was obsessed with Roshni and had even written to his father in Muzaffarpur saying that they were in love, which was not true. His father had tried to confirm the fact and when he realized it was not true had scolded his son on phone.

His father’s scolding, according to Akash’s friends, is the reason he “lost his mental balance” and took the extreme step.

Roshni, who is in the ICU of Safdarjung Hospital, has four deep injuries to her skull and the blood vessels to her brain have been damaged, said doctors. She also has a major brain clot and her right wrist is badly slashed.

The incident has sent the entire JNU campus in a state of shock, said a senior resident who declined to be named. “If there is any lesson to be learnt from the incident, it is that such youths need to be given counselling,” he said.