Delhi acid attack: Class 12 student's neighbour among three arrested

NEW DELHI: Hours after a 17-year-old girl was attacked with acid in west Delhi on Wednesday morning, three men, including her neighbour, were arrested in the case, police said.

Two masked men on a bike threw acid on the class 12 student minutes after she left her west Delhi home for school, they said. The girl has sustained eight per cent burn injuries and is undergoing treatment at Safdarjung Hospital's burn ICU, officials said, adding the accused probably threw nitric acid on the victim. However, only a forensic examination would confirm the type of acid used in the crime, they said.

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Police identified the accused as Sachin Arora (20) and his two associates Harshit Aggarwal (19) and Virender Singh (22). Addressing a press conference, Sagar Preet Hooda, Special Commissioner of Police, Law and Order, Zone-II, said that during investigation, the involvement of Arora, the victim's neighbour and friend, was found and he was arrested. Following Arora's arrest, police zeroed in on Aggarwal, who was allegedly accompanying him on the motorcycle when the girl was attacked.

Subsequently, the involvement of Singh also emerged, who was used by Arora to mislead the investigators about his location at the time of the incident, the official said. "The acid was bought online and payment was made by Arora through e-wallet. The girl had been a friend of Arora for a long time but they had a breakup two-three months ago and she stopped talking to him. To take revenge, he planned the attack," Hooda said. Later in a statement, police said that Arora and the victim were on friendly terms till September 2022.

In the morning before the incident, Singh took the scooter and mobile phone of Arora with him to another location so as to mislead the investigation, police said. During interrogation, on the basis of technical evidence, it has been found that the accused procured acid from Flipkart, said the statement. Earlier, the teen, who was with her younger sister when the attack took place at Mohan Garden near Uttam Nagar, had named two persons who could be responsible for the attack, according to Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka) M Harsha Vardhan.

Meanwhile, a doctor at Safdarjung Hospital said, "The girl has suffered eight per cent facial burns and her eyes have also been affected. She has been admitted to the burn ICU and is stable," said A case has been registered under sections 326A (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by use of acid) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code at Mohan Garden police station, the DCP said. According to police, Arora used to do wallpaper work and Aggarwal was working at a private company while Singh worked as a generator mechanic.