A young woman is in custody after she tricked her fiancé to follow her up a hill with the promise of a "surprise" gift before slitting his throat.
The bride-to-be, Viyyapu Pushpa, 22, blindfolded fiancé Addepallu Ram Naidu, 28, before slicing his neck and leaving him to die on an isolated hilltop in Andhra Pradesh, southern India earlier this month.
Luckily the groom survived after locals rushed him to hospital where he was given 30 stitches, Vice World reports.
According to local media, the pair were due to get hitched on May 29 in an arranged marriage agreed on by their parents.
Pushpa is charged with attempted murder and is currently in custody. She faces a 10-year prison sentence if convicted.
Arranged marriage is common in many part of Asia and in the Asian diaspora - but some women reject the tradition.
Police say Pushpa admitted she resorted to the extreme violence because she didn't see another way out of her arranged marriage.
Deputy superintendent Sunil Kumar told Vice: “According to her statement, she just didn’t want to get married to this guy or anyone else."
Despite her fears, Pushpa said no one had pressured her into the marriage, but just that she was terrified of how people would react to her hesitation.
Naidu told local media from his hospital bed that the betrothal was arranged last year.
On the day of the assault, Pushpa asked the groom to meet her, telling him she wanted to introduce him to her pals, he said.
But as they walked, Naidu told him she had a surprise gift for him, and lead him up to an isolated hilltop where she blindfolded him.
To put his mind at ease she had told him she had a surprise gift, but the "gift" was in fact the knife that she jabbed at his throat.
When the wounded man took off his blindfold, Pushpa told him she didn't want to get married.
Doctors said there were no deep cuts - and that the reason for so much blood was because she'd sliced superficial veins.
“Her parents say she is innocent, while the man’s parents are demanding justice,” said Kumar.
