New Delhi: A 32-year-old doctor has been arrested on suspicion of having hired two juveniles to throw acid on the face of a woman doctor who rejected his marriage proposal, police said.
Another alleged co-conspirator was held on Thursday, while the juveniles were sent to a correctional home.
The two young suspects, riding a motorcycle, had followed the woman, who was going to work on her scooter, and thrown acid at her before fleeing. The attack left the 30-year-old victim with a damaged right eye and burns on the face.
According to police, the main accused, Dr Ashok Yadav, wanted to marry the victim. But, she rejected him. He then decided to take revenge, police said.
Yadav is currently working as a senior resident at ESIC hospital, Basai Dara Pur. He studied medicine in Russia and was the woman’s classmate there.
Yadav, indignant at the rejection, asked his friend Vaibhav to help him hire two the juveniles to execute the acid-attack plan, Pushpendra Kumar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Delhi, said.
The juveniles were paid Rs 25,000 for the job. Vaibhav gave the details of the woman to the juveniles, along with her photograph and her day’s schedule.
According to police sources, four days before the attack, the juveniles stole the motorcycle that they were to use in the crime from Hari Nagar. They also bought a bottle of sulphuric acid along with a few syringes from a shop in Hari Nagar .
Two days before the incident, the juveniles also did a dry run.
“The juveniles confessed that they had a dry run two days before they actually executed the attack. They filled syringes with water and enacted the attack. While one juvenile acted as the victim, the other came on a bike and threw water on him,” a police officer said.
On the day of the incident, the juveniles started following the victim’s scooter and, at about 9.20 am when she was in main market of Rajouri Garden, they came from behind and tried to snatch her bag to make it appear like a robbery bid. While the rider snatched her bag, the pillion rider flung the acid on her face.
The act was caught on CCTV cameras installed in the market area.
“We listed all the friends and colleagues of the victim and started questioning them. We strongly suspected it to be a case of personal enmity, hence the robbery angle was ruled out. During questioning, it was found that Yadav used to stalk the victim as he wanted to marry her,” a police officer said.
“We detained him and questioned him thoroughly. Initially, Yadav tried to mislead the police but later broke down and confessed to the crime,” the police officer said.
