FULLERTON : Woman’s Screams Heard on 911 Tape

Authorities played a tape recording Friday of a 911 telephone call laced with the screams of a 21-year-old woman allegedly left bound and gagged by her husband inside a burning Fullerton apartment.

The recording was heard on the first day of a preliminary hearing of the attempted murder case against Vinay Gandhi, 22, who is accused of tying up his wife, Hemangini Ladva, and leaving her inside their burning apartment last July.

Ladva managed to reach a phone and dial police, who rescued her.

The preliminary hearing, which is scheduled to continue Monday in North Municipal Court in Fullerton, will determine whether there is enough evidence to try Gandhi for attempted murder and arson.

Deputy Dist. Atty. James Tanazaki played the recording as Ladva sat emotionless on the witness stand.

Ladva testified that her husband bound and gagged her, set the carpet on fire and then fled the apartment. While the flames spread, she managed to crawl to a phone and dial 911, Ladva said during the hearing.

Later, she managed to rise to her feet, hop to a window and attempt to break the glass with a vase, Ladva said. But she was unable to shatter the window and was forced to lay on the floor and wait for police, who arrived about 10 minutes after she dialed 911.

When Fullerton police entered the couple’s single-room apartment in the 2400 block of Nutwood Avenue just before 8 a.m., they found Ladva bound hand and foot. She was carried out of the apartment on the shoulder of Sgt. Doug Cave.

During her testimony, Ladva said she had attempted suicide three times in the last four years because of pressure from school--she is attending Cal State Fullerton--and her stormy relationship with Gandhi. Although previous reports indicated the couple were not married, it was revealed during Friday’s testimony that Gandhi and Ladva were wed in October, 1989, in their native India.

Ladva said she attempted to break off the relationship several times before the alleged July 23 murder attempt.

“He constantly threatened me,” Ladva testified. “He said if I were to betray him or be disloyal, he would kill me.”