Neha Hiremath was stabbed to death inside her college campus. (Representational)

Hubballi:

Just weeks after college student Neha Hiremath was stabbed to death by her former classmate, a 21-year-old woman was murdered inside her house by an acquaintance here for allegedly rejecting her love proposal on Wednesday.

Vishwa alias Girish Sawant, 23, knocked on the door of Anjali Ambigera’s residence at Veerapur Oni area at around 5.45 am.

When she opened the door, Girish stabbed her to death with a knife and fled the place, a senior police officer said, adding that her sister was a witness to the brutal murder.

A case of murder under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code has been registered against the accused, police said, adding that teams have been formed to arrest him.

Neha Hiremath, 23, was stabbed to death by her former classmate Fayaz Khodunaik inside her college campus in Hubballi on April 18.

“Girish was harassing my sister Anjali for sometime now. He expressed his love to her but my sister declined. He even pressured my sister to go with him to Mysuru. He had also threatened her that she will meet the same fate as that of Neha Hiremath,” Anjali’s sister Yashodha told reporters here.

“When we informed police about his threats, they didn’t pursue it seriously and today see, my sister is dead,” she said.

Anjali’s family and local residents staged a protest here demanding strict action against the accused. Later, the police reached the spot and dispersed them, assuring them that justice will be delivered.

Anjali’s father Mohan said that around seven months ago she had told them that Girish was harassing her.

“I had warned him (Girish). But today morning, unfortunately my daughter was murdered by this same person. The accused has to be punished,” he said.

No girl should be in the situation that Anjali has been in, her family said, and demanded strict action against the accused who is still at large.

Meanwhile, Congress Councillor Niranjan Hiremath — father of Neha — met the victim’s family and slammed the state government over the “deteriorating” law and order situation in north Karnataka and also sought suspension of Police Commissioner of Hubballi-Dharwad Renuka Sukumar for alleged “failure.” Talking about the brutal murder of Anjali, he said that despite the accused openly threatening the victim that she would meet the same fate as that of Neha, the police did not take the issue seriously when the woman’s family approached them to complaint.

“In less than a month of my daughter’s murder, another brutal and unfortunate murder happened this morning. I have been repeatedly urging the state government and the Home Minister (G Parameshwara) to bring an appropriate law (for such incidents). The police have failed to catch the culprit in Anjali’s case. He openly threatened her with Neha’s incident and yet the police did not take any preventive measure,” he told PTI Videos