Indian-origin jilted lover jailed 23 years for vicious attack

A 26-year-old Indian-origin man in the UK has been sentenced to 23 years in prison for trying to kill his ex-fiancee and her lover in a brutal knife attack after she broke off the engagement and eloped.

Bharat Soma, slashed the throats of Darshana Narotam, 17, and Prashant Govinde, 22, in a broad daylight on a busy street, out of "revenge" in Leicester city.

Soma was engaged to be married to Darshana, which was arranged by her parents but she never willingly agreed to it. She ran away to escape a forced arranged marriage to Soma as she wanted to wed Prashant, Leicester Mercury reported yesterday.

Soma was found guilty by a Leicester Crown Court jury of attempting to murder the couple, who eloped from their homes in Wembley to live in Leicester.

"The attack was intended by Mr Soma to be a cold-blooded murder, committed to prevent Darshana from marrying anyone else," the report quoted High Court Judge Justice Saunders as saying while sentencing.

Soma grabbed hold of Darshana round the neck and while holding her from behind he slit her throat from one side to the other with a knife. He then stabbed Prashant through the neck with the same knife, pushing the knife right through his neck from front to back, the report said.

The attack took place on a busy road in January. Judge also praised the police for life-saving actions after brutal knife attack.

The court observed that Darshana never told Soma she wanted to marry him although she agreed to the engagement because she felt she had no option but to go along with her parents' wishes until she was old enough to be able to marry Prashant without their consent.

The defendant told the police that he had lost his mind because he believed that a curse had been put on him. The judge, however, said he was not imposing a life sentence because of Soma's previous good character.

The couple – who have since married and are living at a secret address - have been left permanently scarred from their injuries, the judge said it was believed they had not suffered "serious long term harm".