Woman, 21, Who Was Bound, Gagged, Is Rescued From Fire

Police kicked in the door of a burning apartment early Monday and rescued a bound and gagged woman who was allegedly left to die by her fiance, police officials said.

The woman, Hemangini Ladva, 21, a native of India, was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation after the 7:55 a.m. ordeal in her third-floor apartment in the 2400 block of E. Nutwood Ave.

Her fiance, Vinay Gandhi, 22, also a native of India, was later arrested on suspicion of attempted homicide and booked at the Fullerton City Jail.

Police late Monday said they were still attempting to determine a motive for the attack. Managers of the 248-unit apartment complex, where the couple had lived in the single-bedroom unit for the past six months, said both were students at nearby Cal State Fullerton and planned to marry. Neighbors said the couple kept to themselves.

“They were real quiet people,” said a manager of the Nutwood West Apartments, who asked not to be identified.

According to Fullerton Police Sgt. Neal Baldwin, Ladva was bound hand and foot and gagged by her fiance. Gandhi then set the carpet on fire and fled the residence, Baldwin said.

As smoke filled the apartment, Ladva later told police, she struggled to get free. Although her hands remained bound, she managed to dial 911.

“She dialed somehow; we don’t know whether with her fingers or her nose,” Baldwin said.

Ladva, unable to remove the gag, could not relate her situation to the dispatcher, Baldwin said. An automatic printout of her address appeared in the Fullerton dispatch headquarters, however, and officers rushed to the scene on a report of “unknown trouble,” Baldwin said.

Officers arrived at the apartment to find it on fire. They kicked down the door and entered the apartment, Baldwin said. Sgt. Doug Cave found Ladva lying on the floor of the front room and carried her out on his shoulder.

Fullerton firefighters, meanwhile, rushed to the scene after reports from police and a neighbor who noticed smoke. Firefighters had the blaze contained by 8:11 a.m., Fullerton fire dispatcher Paul Marks said.

Damage was estimated at $2,000. A three-foot-square section of carpet was burned, and drapes, walls and the ceiling were all blackened from smoke.

The apartment manager said that Ladva returned to the apartment complex Monday afternoon to retrieve some belongings before going away with her brother.

“She appeared to be all right,” the manager said. “She said that he had tied her up and set fire to the carpet. But she didn’t say why.”

A relative at the scene late Monday, who asked not to be identified, said Ladva would stay with friends. The relative, who was taking photographs of the charred apartment, said both Ladva and Gandhi had been in the United States “a long time.” He had no information, however, on what started the trouble between them.