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Indian student to plead guilty to stabbing professor

Washington: An Indian student who allegedly stabbed his professor because he feared that his failing grades might lead to his return to India is now planning to plead guilty to the attack.

Nikhil Dhar, 24, a student of the University of Massachusetts, is accused of slashing his Clinical Lab Sciences Assistant Professor Mary Elizabeth Hooker's neck on December 22, 2005.

Dhar was to go to trial on Wednesday for stabbing Ms. Hooker, but will instead enter guilty pleas on April 17 to charges of armed assault with intent to murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, said his attorney Stephen Hrones. "The evidence is basically pretty overwhelming," Mr. Hrones said.

Dhar is accused of following Ms. Hooker more than 20 miles from the Lowell campus and attacking her at her Cambridge home. She was in hospital for several weeks after the attack.

Ms. Hooker told police that Dhar initially wanted to talk about his failure, but later he dragged her into the yard and stabbed her.

Police said they found a note in Dhar's pocket, which read, "I'm sorry I'm having to do this. But I have no options left ... You look at me and I will kill you. I have nothing to lose." Dhar, a resident of Kolkata, who is on a student visa, is said to have felt pressure because of his fear of deportation. — PTI

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