Family of 16-year-old Dhanshree Molkar, who was stabbed to death by a 24-year-old she was trying to avoid, to concentrate on her SSC exams, learnt that she was among the Top 10 scorers in her school
For the Molkars from Jogeshwari, the announcement of the SSC results yesterday should have given them a reason to celebrate. Their daughter secured 85% and was among the ten highest scorers in her school.
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mid-day had reported yesterday how an angry Prateek Kubal had stabbed Dhanshree four times on her chest, abdomen and arms when she said she would never meet him again
The news, however, served only to add to the distress of the family, for it gave them more proof of just how promising a life was snuffed out when 16-year-old Dhanshree Molkar was stabbed to death by her jilted lover, Prateek Kubal (24), on Saturday night, as reported in mid-day yesterday.
Dhanshree Molkar and the school in Jogeshwari where she studied
The tragic irony of the situation was also not lost on anyone: Dhanshree ended up paying with her life because she had been trying to distance herself from Kubal for months to be able to concentrate on preparing for the very exams that she aced.
Prateek Kubal was produced in court and remanded in police custody
A mother’s cries
When mid-day visited the Molkar home in a chawl near the Jogeshwari caves, the cries of Dhanshree’s mother could be heard even outside. Between bouts of crying, the inconsolable mother kept telling anyone that would hear that her daughter’s result had come out and they should have been celebrating, but they were mourning instead.
“I wish she would have been alive at least long enough to see her results today and realise that her hard work had borne fruit. Her joy would have known no bounds. She wanted to be a journalist and help others, but everything is finished now,” the mother told their relatives as the father, who was too distressed to speak, looked on.
Journalism dreams
Talking to mid-day, one of her relatives said some family members had gone to Dhanshree’s school, Dosibai Jeejeebhoy high school, near their residence early in the morning yesterday and discovered that she had done exceedingly well and was among the ten toppers.
School teachers also recalled how Dhanshree always used to do well academically and aspired to become a journalist. Relatives as well as teachers remembered her as a calm teenager, who never caused any trouble.
Background
Kubal, a hardware engineer from Virar and Dhanshree had known each other since childhood, as they both hailed from Malvan, in Sindhudurg. They had hit it off when the girl went to her hometown with her parents recently. They kept in touch through Facebook.
Since Dhanshree’s SSC exams were approaching, her father got worried when he discovered how much time she spent chatting online with Kubal. He warned her against wasting time, after which she began to avoid talking to Kubal. The 24-year-old, however, kept trying to contact her and finally asked her to meet him one last time on Saturday.
Dhanshree agreed as he had a few pictures of the two of them, which she wanted to collect. Senior Inspector Santosh Bhandare from Meghwadi police station had told mid-day that the duo met near the talao on Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road around 5 pm on Saturday.
Around 8 pm, when Dhanshree said she would never meet him again and decided to head home, Kubal got angry and attacked her with a knife he was carrying. He stabbed her four times on her chest, abdomen and arms and then began slashing his wrists when he was noticed by passers-by, who began to thrash him.
Police remand
Kubal was arrested by the Meghwadi police on Saturday and produced in the holiday court on Sunday. He was remanded in police custody for two days, said an officer from the Meghwadi police station.