Her name was Soumya Pushpakaran.
She was 34 years old and a Civil Police Officer posted at Vallikunnam police station in Alappuzha district, Kerala.
Her husband Sajiv worked in Libya, and she was raising their three children at home. Two sons aged 12 and 9, and a daughter aged 3.
N.A. Ajaz was a 33-year-old traffic police officer posted at Aluva in Ernakulam district. He had first met Soumya when he served as an instructor during her police training.
What began as a friendship had, on his side, become an obsession.
He proposed marriage. Soumya was already married with three children, and she refused. He proposed again, and she refused again.
According to her family, Ajaz continued contacting her, visited her home and used a disputed loan of Rs 1.5 lakh as a reason to maintain contact. Soumya blocked him on WhatsApp and stopped answering his calls.
One week before the killing, Ajaz applied for 15 days of leave. He travelled to Vallikunnam, located Soumya’s house and allegedly purchased two cans of petrol and a machete.
On the afternoon of June 15 2019, Soumya was returning home after writing a PSC examination at a school in Thazhava. According to investigators, Ajaz was waiting in a rented car outside her house.
He rammed her scooter with the vehicle. Soumya recognised him, got up and ran, but investigators said he chased her into a neighbour’s house, attacked her with a machete and poured petrol over her before setting her on fire.
Soumya collapsed inside the house and died there.
Ajaz had also poured petrol on himself. He suffered more than 50 percent burns, was arrested at the scene and later told a magistrate that he had intended to kill himself after killing her.
He died in hospital four days later on June 19.
Soumya’s mother later told investigators that her daughter had spoken about Ajaz and that the family knew he was a threat. Her husband Sajiv flew back from Libya to bring her home.
Their daughter was three years old.
Soumya had told people about him. She had blocked him and done everything she was supposed to do.
Nobody stopped him in time.
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