A day after the alleged acid attack on a Delhi University student near Laxmi Bai College, Delhi Police have tracked and apprehended Akeel Khan, the father of the 20-year-old victim, who was previously reported as absconding.
The arrest, confirmed late Monday evening by senior officials at Bharat Nagar police station, marks a pivotal shift in an investigation already mired in contradictions, family vendettas, and competing narratives of harassment and revenge.
Khan, a 45-year-old factory owner from Mukundpur, was located hiding in a relative’s residence in neighbouring Ghaziabad after a tip-off from local intelligence networks.
According to police sources, he is being transported back to Delhi under heavy escort for intensive questioning, expected to commence early Tuesday at the station’s interrogation cell.
Earlier, taking a strong note, Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena has directed Delhi Police Commissioner Satish Golcha to ensure that the accused in the alleged acid attack case in Ashok Vihar are arrested at the earliest, and stringent punishment is sought against them.
A post from Raj Niwas on X said: “@LtGovDelhi VK Saxena has taken an extremely serious view of the recent unfortunate incident of acid attack in the Capital. He has instructed the Commissioner of Police to ensure that guilty are arrested and brought to the book at the earliest and the most stringent punishment under law is sought for against them”.
On Sunday morning, a 20-year-old second-year BCom student enrolled in DU’s Non-Collegiate Women’s Education Board was allegedly attacked with acid by Jitender and his accomplices, Ishan and Arman, both brothers, while she was on her way to attend an extra class, the police said.
In an official statement, they said that Jitender’s wife had earlier accused the victim’s father, Akeel Khan, of rape at the Bhalswa Dairy Police Station. Khan is absconding.
The woman alleged that while working in Akeel Khan’s socks manufacturing unit between 2021 and 2024, she was sexually assaulted by Khan, who blackmailed her with her private photos and videos. On the basis of the allegation, police questioned Khan and arrested him when he revealed that he had fabricated the story of an acid attack, and the liquid in question was ordinary toilet cleaner. Police had earlier found discrepancies in the college student’s statement and Jitender’s location away from the crime spot.
According to the police, the woman had made PCR calls on October 24 and 25 and reported the matter, but did not submit a written complaint. “Till Ashok Vihar, she was in a scooter with her brother. After that, she took an e-rickshaw to the college but deboarded 300 metres away from the main gate of the college,” the police said, adding that her brother has become unavailable and is not joining the investigation. Investigators said Jitender’s location at the time of the incident was found to be in Karol Bagh, around 5 km away from the crime scene.
“His call detail records and CCTV footage show that both Jitender and his wife were in Karol Bagh during the time of the alleged attack,” an officer said. Even the motorcycle said to have been used in the crime appears to be in Karol Bagh, he said.
Detained for questioning, Jitender, who works as a painter, maintains that he was not present in the area when the incident occurred. No traces of acid were found at the spot, and there is no CCTV footage of three men riding a motorcycle near the scene of the crime, the officer said.
The Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) team also did not recover any acid bottles from the area. Ishan and Arman, both distant relatives of the victim, the police said, are in Agra with their mother, Shabnam, a resident of Mangolpuri. They will be joining the investigation soon. In 2018, Shabnam too accused Akil Khan of rape. That matter is still sub judice. It emerged that a long-standing dispute over a Mangolpuri property exists between the two families, the police said. The same year, Shabnam alleged an acid attack by Khan and got an FIR filed at the Mangolpuri Police Station.
The officer said the police seized a bag from the victim, on which drops of acid had allegedly fallen, and found a kurti in it.
“Given the contradictions in statements and emerging background details, the case is being probed under close supervision of senior officers to verify the authenticity of the FIR and the claims of all parties involved,” the officer added.