An 18-year-old collegian in Bombay suffered multiple skull fractures and was left for dead on August 11 in a sexual assault bid by a Bihar youngster whom she had befriended online. Deepak Malakar, who claims to be a film editor and a casting agent, was arrested in Surat by the Versova (Bombay) police on August 14, three days after he fled from Bombay. The victim, who wanted to try her hand at acting in Hindi films, is recuperating in hospital after a two-day stay in the ICU.
According to the police, Malakar had confessed that he wanted to kill the girl because she had rejected his advances. The girl got friendly with Malakar on Facebook last year. Two months back, he approached her parents with a marriage proposal. He even started living with the family in their modest flat. On August 11, Deepak took the girl to the flat in which he used to live earlier, on the pretext of collecting his belongings. He tried to sexually assault her. He banged her head against the wall when she resisted, and rained blows on her face till she collapsed. Fearing that she was dead, he locked the flat from outside and fled not only from the scene but the city too. The girl regained consciousness an hour later and screamed for help.
The police swung into action and tracked him down in Surat after three days. Malakar has been booked under IPC sections 307 (attempt to murder), 342 (wrongful confinement), 354 (outraging modesty) and 354 (D) (stalking). He has been remanded to police custody till August 18.
