A criminal, who allegedly lured a 22-year-old woman into a relationship promising to marry her, allegedly slit her throat after calling her to his place in Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur.

He then pushed her into a canal believing her to be dead. The victim was rescued by locals who spotted her in the canal. She is undergoing treatment at a local hospital, said police on Wednesday.

The accused was married and a father of two children. He took this step as the woman had decided to end her relationship with him after her marriage was fixed with another person, said the police spokesman.

“The police launched a hunt for the man after the woman confirmed the identity of her culprit as Gash-u-Zama Khan, 32, and arrested him along with his elder brother Afroz Khan, 34, who was aware about his nefarious plan. The duo was shot at in a police encounter early on Tuesday,” said Prashant Kumar, special DG (law and order).

The duo was booked under sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 34 (being part of conspiracy with common intention) of the IPC.

Sections of sexual harassment and other charges could be added after the woman’s statement is recorded, said Somen Barma, SP (Sultanpur).

The brothers had past criminal records and had been accused in a murder case in Sultanpur in 2008. Zama and his brother had seven and four criminal cases, respectively against them, he added. The two brothers were currently out on bail in the 2008 case.

Barma said the woman became familiar with Gash-u-Zama as she was a neighbour of his maternal grandparents’ family staying in Baldi Rai and was in a relationship with him for some time. The accused had been living in Mumbai for the past few years while the woman was in Delhi for the past six months for employment, but they were in constant touch with each other, he added.

The accused confessed that he called the woman to Sultanpur when he returned from Mumbai for a court hearing in a case pending against him and had planned to return on Tuesday.

(The story has been published via a syndicated feed with a modified headline.)