Love, conflict, murder: Mohali office turns into crime scene
Mohali witnessed a chilling act of workplace violence when a 30-year-old woman employee was brutally stabbed to death by her colleague inside a private logistics company, with the entire sequence of events captured on CCTV.
The horrifying attack lasted barely 35 seconds, during which the assailant allegedly stabbed the woman around 30 times, chased her as she tried to escape, threatened co-workers who attempted to save her, and later turned the weapon on himself in an apparent suicide attempt.
The victim, Dimple, a resident of Patiala and a member of the dispatch team at SRP US Logistics in Phase-XI, Mohali, was working at her desk around 7.30 pm on Thursday evening when the attack unfolded.
The accused, Harjinder, who also worked in the same company and whose workstation was reportedly located near hers, allegedly entered her cabin carrying two knives and launched a sudden assault from behind.
As per the CCTV footage and preliminary investigation, Dimple was busy with her work when the accused approached from behind and repeatedly stabbed her in the neck. Caught off guard, she screamed and attempted to flee towards other staff members in the hope of finding help.
However, the attacker relentlessly chased her through the office premises, continuing the assault as she ran for her life. Even after she reached the office entrance area, he allegedly caught up with her and continued stabbing her repeatedly.
The footage reportedly shows terrified employees rushing to intervene. Yet the attacker brandished the knife and threatened anyone who came near, forcing several staff members to back away.
In a dramatic moment, one employee managed to snatch a knife from the attacker. But the accused had allegedly come prepared. He immediately pulled out a second knife and resumed the assault on the already critically injured woman. Investigators believed that the presence of two knives indicates premeditation. Witnesses said that the attacker appeared uncontrollable and continued his assault despite repeated attempts by colleagues to stop him.
Once he was convinced the victim would not survive, the accused reportedly moved to another part of the office and began attacking himself. CCTV footage shows him repeatedly stabbing and slashing his own throat in a desperate suicide attempt.
When the self-inflicted wounds failed to render him unconscious immediately, he allegedly slit his throat with the knife before collapsing in a pool of blood.
The incident triggered panic across the office. Employees alerted the police and emergency services, following which both the victim and accused were rushed to Fortis Hospital.
Doctors declared Dimple dead as she succumbed to her injuries during treatment, while the accused, Harjinder alias Harry, remains hospitalized in critical condition.
Police have seized CCTV footage, collected forensic evidence, and initiated a detailed investigation. Preliminary findings suggested that the accused and victim had worked together for nearly three years and may have shared a personal relationship that later ended.
Investigators suspected that the accused had been struggling to accept the breakup and had unsuccessfully attempted to revive the relationship. Police believed an argument between the two shortly before the attack may have triggered the violence. However, officials have stressed that the exact motive has not yet been conclusively established and all angles remain under investigation.
“Prima facie, the incident appears to be a case of one-sided affection. When the woman rejected his advances, he attacked her with the knife and later injured himself,” said Mohali Phase-XI SHO Aman Baidwan.
As reports linked the crime to a failed relationship, Dimple’s family strongly disputed those claims. Her grandfather, Balwant Rai Khatri, said that his granddaughter was an educated, hardworking, and ambitious woman who had completed an LLB degree and regularly shared personal matters with her family.
