A man allegedly attacked a nursing assistant in Thiruvananthapuram and cut off her ear on Friday, NDTV reported. The accused used to work as an ambulance driver at the same hospital as her.

An unidentified police officer said the 35-year-old woman was on her way to the medical college hospital when the accused allegedly attacked her with a knife around 7 am on Friday. “According to preliminary investigation, the victim’s entire ear was cut,” the officer told The News Minute.

Police identified the man as Nithin, a native of Kollam, and have registered a case of attempted murder, wrongful restraint and “outraging modesty of women”, News18 reported.

A police team which was on patrol duty nearby took the accused into custody and rushed the woman to a hospital. The woman, who suffered injuries to her head and neck in the attack, is said to be in a stable condition, PTI reported.

“The two knew each other before but it appears that the woman did not agree to something, for which Nithin seems to have attacked the woman,” an unidentified police officer said, according to NDTV.

In April, a 22-year-old woman died after she was set on fire by a man at her house in Thrissur. The woman’s family members alleged that the man had been stalking the woman for a long time.