GHAZIABAD: A 22-year-old woman was on Wednesday hacked to death with an axe by a youth who had recently been arrested just a week ago for harassing her and had walked out on bail just four days ago.Priyanka’s murder, in Modinagar around 5pm, set off a local intelligence alert and led to police forces being rushed to the area amid speculation that the attack was linked to Valentine’s Day. Sachin Sharma , the man believed to have committed the murder, surrendered at the local police station. Police said he was still carrying the murder weapon when he gave himself up.Sharma and Priyanka, the police claimed, had known each other for a while and a “dispute” between them had been brewing since Priyanka got married last year. Police also said the two had once been in a relationship but Priyanka’s family strongly denied that, saying Sharma’s feelings were “one-sided”.Sharma attacked Priyanka around 100 metres from the railway crossing (Gate No. 16) when she was returning home from a tailoring shop. Police sources said she had injuries on her neck, chest and stomach. “She bled to death at the spot,” her uncle Ram Bharose Lal told TOI. “On February 12, Sachin Sharma had sent a message to Priyanka with the picture of a gun to threaten her. It seems he proposed to her again and tried to make advances that were spurned by Priyanka. Then he attacked her with the axe,” he added.Priyanka’s family members said she got married to Sandeep (26) in Loni on April 17 last year. She had come to her parents’ place, in Modinagar’s Govindpuri, 10 days ago to appear in the Class X UP board examinations that are under way.On February 8, Sharma had allegedly stopped Priyanka on her way back from an exam. “He was standing along the road with three to four friends. He stopped Priyanka and tried talking to her. But Priyanka refused. Sharma followed her all the way to our house and started a quarrel. We called the police,” said Ram Bharose Lal.Sharma was arrested and charged with disturbing peace under the Criminal Procedure Code. He was released on bail by the sub-divisional magistrate a couple of days later.Forces were mobilised in Modinagar in order to quell any breakdown in lawand-order as soon as news of the murder spread and locals started gathering around the police station.

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