A 38 year-old woman was hospitalised with burn injuries after an attack by her jilted lover in Noida. Gautam Buddh Nagar police said that they nabbed the accused on Friday after a gunfight.
According to police, the gunfight in which the accused got bullet injury took place within 16 hours of the acid attack. The accused has been identified as Vikas (36), a native of Badaun district in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and presently he was residing at Mamura.
Police said that the accused Vikas had thrown the acidic substance (battery water) at the woman on Thursday night near a hotel in the Mamura area and then fled the spot. “The woman with burn injuries was taken to a local hospital but soon referred to the Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi where she is undergoing treatment. She has sustained 30-32 per cent burns on her face, neck and feet,” said the senior police official. “Following the incident, a police team was formed and the team of Phase 3 police station on Friday morning was in the Sector 68 area when they noticed a suspicious-looking man on a bike,” said Harish Chander, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Central Noida.
“Seeing the police team, he tried to escape and even opened fire on the police team. He got hit on his leg during retaliatory firing by the police and was taken to a hospital for treatment,” said the DCP.
Later during inquiry when he was found linked with Thursday night's acid attack case, the accused claimed that he was married to the woman and they stayed together in Mumbai for three years but she had now got into a relationship with another person. “On interrogation, the accused Vikas told police that he was frustrated with this and that is why he had planned the attack on the woman.
His claim of marriage to the woman is being verified and his criminal history also being checked,” said the DCP.“The accused also followed her and rented a flat in the same locality where she was staying.
For the past few months, he was pressurising her to reconcile and live with him. He was also miffed with the fact that the woman had got into a relationship with another man,” said a police official privy to investigation.
An First Information Report (FIR) has been lodged against Vikas under section 326A (acid attack) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and further legal proceedings are being carried out, the police said.