Man held for attacking women with blade in UP

Bareilly (UP), April 20 (IANS) A 42-year-old man, who had created a terror in the city by attacking women with a surgical blade, has been arrested after his girlfriend lodged a rape complaint against him.

The accused, identified as Mohammed Sajjad, revealed during interrogation that he had been advised by a cleric at a local shrine to "attack women to improve his situation and get rid of his troubles".

SP (city) Rahul Bhati said, "Over the past 15 days, four women had fallen victim to the 'blade man' in the city. Three cases were registered in the Quila area and one in the Prem Nagar area. Multiple teams were deployed in the area and CCTV cameras scanned to identify the culprit."

He said that no complaint had been lodged against the cleric yet.