BPD: Spurned Burnsville Man Allegedly Beat Woman, Tore Out Her Hair

A Burnsville man has been charged with punching a Burnsville woman repeatedly and threatening to “put her in the emergency room” when she refused to have sex with him.

Chandralall Thakur, 29, is charged with two felonies: third-degree assault and making terroristic threats, each of which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

According to the criminal complaint, Burnsville police were called to a home just after 11:30 a.m. May 5 on a report of a woman who had been assaulted.

Police found the woman sitting on the steps, crying, with a swollen and bruised left eye. She told officers that her friend, Thakur, had come to her home earlier to give her money to pay her cell phone bill, and they began arguing.

The woman said she got into Thakur’s SUV, and they continued their discussion. Thakur told her he “had feelings for her,” and the woman told him she wasn’t interested in a relationship, she told police.

Thakur became angry and drove to a car dealership parking lot, where he began punching the woman on the left side of her face, the complaint says. Thakur told the woman, “You know what I want; get in the back seat,” according to the complaint.

The woman told police she thought Thakur was going to rape her, but when she tried to get out of the SUV, he locked the doors and wouldn’t let her leave, pulling a knife and threatening to “put her in the emergency room.”

The woman said she tried to grab the knife and cut her hand in the process. When Thakur opened the SUV’s door so he could spit, the woman said she got out of the car; Thakur went over the console and caught her outside the car, the complaint says.

The two scuffled in the parking lot, and Thakur ripped the crotch of the woman’s pants when he grabbed her, according to the complaint. Thakur tore out a handful of the woman’s hair and covered her mouth so she couldn’t scream for help, she told police.

When Thakur saw the blood from the cut on the woman’s finger, he suddenly became remorseful and offered to take her home, the complaint says. One of the victim’s relatives called police, and the victim was taken to the hospital and treated for her injuries.

The woman told police that Thakur had repeatedly called her cell and work phones in the weeks leading up to the assault, sometimes as much as 40 times an hour, and that he often showed up at her workplace and her home, even though she had told him to leave her alone.

Police found Thakur parked nearby. He told officers that he had gone to the woman’s home to pay his portion of a cell phone bill, and that they had driven around to talk about a “rumored romantic relationship.” He admitted that he yelled and swore at the woman, and initially denied assaulting her, but later admitted that he had slapped her and pulled her hair, according to the complaint.

Thakur told police that the woman’s hand was cut when she reached for his cell phone in the cup holder, which also held a knife.

Police searched Thakur and found dried blood on his clothing and a clump of human hair in his pants pocket, according to the complaint. They also found a knife in the SUV’s center console.

When officers searched the car dealership parking lot, they found more of the victim’s hair on the ground, along with saliva and blood, the complaint says.

Thakur is free on a $120,000 bond. An omnibus hearing in his case is scheduled June 4 in Dakota County District Court in Hastings.