Stalking: Five cases that shook Delhi’s conscience

PRIYADARSHINI MATTOO
Jan 23, 1996

THE INCIDENT
Priyadarshini Mattoo, a young law student, was raped and murdered at her Vasant Kunj home by her stalker Santosh Singh, son of a former IPS officer.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

After finishing school from Srinagar, the Mattoo family shifted to Jammu where she finished her graduation. Mattoo came to Delhi to pursue LLB. Santosh Singh, who had passed his LLB from Campus Law Centre of Delhi University in 1994, began to stalk her.

THE ORDEALMattoo complained to police, but nothing happened

Multiple complaints filed at Vasant Kunj and RK Puram police stations in February and August 1995 forced Singh to give “undertakings” to the police but they were no deterrence

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Finally, an FIR of molestation was filed and Singh was arrested. A PSO was provided to Mattoo as well

The same year, Singh filed complaints against Mattoo, alleging that she was pursuing two courses. The university held back her results

CRIME AND PUNISHMENTOn January 23, 1996, Mattoo was alone at home when Singh raped her and then killed her. He then shoved her body under the bed and fled

Case was handed over to CBI. In December 1999, the trial court acquitted Singh giving him benefit of doubt. But the high court overruled it and awarded death sentence

In December 2010, SC commuted the sentence to life imprisonment
RADHIKA TANWAR
Mar 8, 2011

THE INCIDENT
Radhika Tanwar, a second year DU student, was shot dead near a foot overbridge outside Ramlal Anand College near Dhaula Kuan by a “psychopath” stalker named Vijay alias Ram Singh

HOW IT ALL BEGAN
Radhika was a brave woman who didn’t like to bother her family. She often downplayed these incidents and tried to handle them on her own

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

• Vijay tried to strike up a conversation with Tanwar but was not only snubbed by her but also beaten up by people
• He wanted revenge. He arranged for a country-made gun and shot her on Mar 8.
• Vijay was arrested from Vikroli in Mumbai a few days later
• The case is still in trial, but the Tanwars have relocated to their ancestral village

GEETIKA SHARMA
Aug 5, 2012

THE INCIDENT

Body of air hostess Geetika Sharma was found hanging from the ceiling of her apartment after a prolonged stalking and harassment by politician Gopal Kanda and his aide Aruna Chadha

HOW IT ALL BEGAN
Geetika was all of 17 when she applied for a job at Kanda’s MDLR airline. Once recruited, she quickly rose through the ranks and was made a director in the company. However, once she began to distance herself from Kanda, her life became miserable, the police chargesheet in the case said. She was even followed till Dubai when she changed jobs and relocated

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

Based on her suicide note and subsequent evidence, police arrested and charged Kanda with rape, abetment to suicide and criminal conspiracy. He remained in jail for about one-and-a-half years before being granted bail. The case is under trial. But six months after the suicide, Sharma’s mother also committed suicide in the same flat


RIYA GAUTAM
July 6, 2017

THE INCIDENT

Aspiring air-hostess Riya Gautam stabbed seven times by a youth named Adil who had been stalking her for a year and a half. He killed her because she turned down his marriage proposal

HOW IT ALL BEGAN
Gautam, a resident of Ram Nagar colony in Seemapuri, used to be friends with Adil, a cab driver with whom she travelled to school. Eventually she came to know about his criminal background and started distancing herself from him.

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
Gautam’s family had registered a complaint against Adil due to which he had to flee from Delhi. But on July 6, he returned to kill her. The chargesheet hasn’t been filed yet.


KARUNA
Sept 21, 2016

THE INCIDENT
A 21-year-old school teacher was stabbed by her stalker more than 30 times with a pair of scissors in full public view at Labour Chowk in Burari. The killer Surender Singh was caught by the locals, thrashed and handed over to the police.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN
Karuna, a resident of Sant Nagar, Burari, used to teach at a private school in north Delhi. She had met Singh at a computer coaching class, where he worked as a trainer, a year before the incident. Surender (34) was divorced.

THE ORDEALKaruna’s parents had complained about Singh, a few months before the incident but Singh and his parents resolved the matter amicably with her parents. Singh kept in touch with Karuna’s friends to find out her whereabouts, followed her while she went work.

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
On September 21, Singh loitered around Karuna’s house for nearly half an hour and followed her to Labour Chowk. He pulled her by arm and stabbed her several times. The case is in trial.