CHENGALPATTU: A first-year engineering student was stabbed in his neck by a collegemate as both of them were interested in the same girl, in Madurantakam on Tuesday.

The 17-year-old student hails from Vennangupattu village near Madurantakam, where the attacker is also from. Both students were enrolled in the same private college, where the victim was a civil engineering student and the assailant was a first-year computer engineering student.

For the past week, the two boys were involved in quarrels over the girl from their neighbourhood whom they were both interested in, the police said. On Tuesday, when the victim was en route to his college, he was intercepted by the other student near a temple and was stabbed.

The minor sustained severe injuries and was admitted to the Chengalpattu Government Medical College Hospital, where he is under intensive care.

Passersby caught the attacker and handed him over to the police. The Sithamur police registered an attempted murder case and arrested him. He was produced before the Juvenile Justice Board and sent to a children's home in Chengalpattu.