As professor Mary Elizabeth Hooker returned home after a five-day stay in a hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she was treated for a knife attack on her throat, it became clear that the alleged attacker, Nikhil Dhar, will not be let out on bail.
Cambridge District Court Judge Michele Hogan determined Dhar to be dangerous in a court hearing on December 28 and ordered him to be held without bail.
Hogan even refused Dhar's attorney's request he should be allowed to stay with his uncle, Ravi Tickoo, and be monitored through an electronic bracelet.
Officials also believe that, if released on bail, he could flee to India. Ironically, they say that his fear of his student visa being cancelled because of his failing grades, leading to a possible return to India lead him to attack the professor.
Police officers told the court during the bail hearing on December 28 that Dhar, who went to meet Hooker on December 22 to discuss his grade in her class, told her before starting his alleged assault, "Now I will have to go back to my country."
Hooker, 54, lives alone near Cambridge, not far from the University of Massachusetts, Lowell campus. According to the police statement, they found a bloody note in Dhar's breast pocket that said - '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.'
According to the police, Dhar was arrested as he was fleeing from Hooker's house, amidst her cries for help and the neighbors coming to her aid. Based upon descriptions provided by witnesses, police apprehended Dhar in a nearby yard within minutes of arriving at the scene.
Dhar, who is charged with armed assault with intent to murder, and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, could even face a prison term up to 20 years if found guilty, Cambridge media relations officer Frank Pasquarello told rediff.com.
He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him. Pasquarello confirmed that the note the police had found also threatened to kill Hooker if he could not obtain her computer password and change his failing grade. And if that did not work, he would kill himself.
"It all depends on how strong the case against Dhar would be," he said in a telephone interview. But Dhar's claim that Hooker mistook him for a burglar cannot be believed. "She knew him because he was her student," he said.
Dhar came from Calcutta to study at the UML about three years ago. School authorities told rediff.com that even if he managed to get a bail, he will not be allowed to enroll at the university, partly because of his grades.
Dhar's uncle Ravi Tickoo, who retained a top defense attorney Steve Hrone to represent the nephew, was quoted in The Boston Globe as saying the charges were 'unreal' and Dhar, who police say followed the professor to her home in his uncle's car, was 'very gentle, very quiet'.
But when rediff.com contacted the Tickoo residence in Chelmsford, Massachussetts, a man who refused to identify himself said, "This is a very tense time for the family and we ask the media to have empathy."
All questions should be directed to the attorney Stephen Hrones, he said. Hrones would not even come to the phone, and a secretary, who said her name was irrelevant, tersely said he had no comments.
Dhar has told the police that he had gone to the home of Professor Hooker on December 23 evening to discuss his failing grades and she mistook him to be a burglar and chased him with a knife. In the ensuing tussle, her throat was cut, he said.
Hooker told police when she found him at her door, she felt it was inappropriate to speak to a student in her home and asked him to meet her at the Dunkin' Donuts.
"If a student comes to your door, there is some desperation," Hooker said.
When she shut the door and was heading up the stairs to get changed, the doorbell rang again and she found Dhar with a knife, she told the police, adding her life was saved just because the knife came loose from its handle.
Defense attorney Stephen Hrones suggested during the court hearing that the knife used in the attack may have come from Hooker's home. But police officer Steve Lyons testified that the police found in Dhar's car, which is owned by his uncle, another kitchen knife on the passenger seat.
Hooker told police that her kitchen is being remodeled and most of her kitchen items are being stored in the basement, according to the local media.
"I couldn't get to a knife if I had to," Hooker told Lyons, according to his testimony.
Mabel E Pais contributed to this story
