Restaurant employee slits woman colleague’s throat

28/08/2017

PUNE: A kitchen porter at a restaurant on Ghole Road allegedly slit his 30-year-old woman colleague's throat late on Saturday night, about a week after she had slapped him in front of the outlet manager for harassing her.

The suspect, Purno Biswas, was staying at Wadarwadi and is on the run. Police suspected that he has fled to his hometown in West Bengal via Mumbai. A police team was chasing him but had to give up at Lonavla after their vehicle developed a fault.

"The victim, Mariamma Desappa Sutar (30), was a resident of Wadarwadi, and is survived by her five-year-old son. She was a widow," said Rahul Kolambikar, sub-inspector of the Deccan Gymkhana police. The manager of the restaurant, Bhairavnath Pujari, has lodged a complaint with a police. Biswas has been booked under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.

Sutar was making 'chapati' in the restaurant for the last two months. Her duty hours were between 6 pm and 10.30 pm daily. On August 20, she had complained to the manager Pujari about the suspect's behaviour. She had told the manager that Biswas was allegedly stalking her and was also asking her cellphone number. "The manager had immediately called the suspect and asked about it," Kolambikar said.

He said Biswas had told the manager that he was asking for Sutar's phone number as she was his colleague. "The restaurant manager, however, asked him to tender an apology to Sutar and never bother her again. But as he refused to apologise, Sutar had slapped him in front of Pujari," Kolambikar said. Furious by this, the suspect had told the manager that he would not work in the restaurant any longer because he was humiliated publicly. "Since then, he did not turn up for work," Kolambikar quoted the restaurant manager as saying.

After Saturday's work was, Sutar had dinner at the restaurant and left for home around 11.10 pm along with another worker, Kamal Dudhsagar. "Biswas, who was waiting outside, attacked Sutar and slit her throat with a knife and fled," Kolambikar said. He added that Sutar had sustained injuries to her face and hands. The officer said on hearing Sutar screaming, Pujari rushed out and took her to nearby private hospital. Doctors declared Sutar dead on arrival. Biswas was staying in Pune for the past 15 years. When the police reached his house, they found he left his cellphone and ran away, Kolambikar said.