Mumbai:
Seven months after a young woman died of acid burns in the city, the Mumbai Police Crime Branch on Friday arrested a Delhi resident on the charges of throwing acid on her.
The accused, a man named Ankur Pawan, allegedly threw acid on Preeti Rathi at the Bandra Terminus in Mumbai in May last year. Police says both the accused and the victim were residents of the same colony in Delhi.
Preeti, 23, had arrived in Mumbai to join her new job as a nurse at INHS Ashwini, a naval hospital in Colaba, when she was attacked. She died a few days later as a result of the injuries she suffered during the acid attack.
The police say Ankur was angry as his father compared his inability to find a job with Preeti's success. He allegedly stole concentrated sulphuric acid from a Delhi Electric Supply godown and carried it with him in a bottle. He travelled without a ticket in a different compartment on the same train as Preeti and looked for an opportunity to attack her during the journey. He finally threw acid on her at Bandra terminus when her family got off the train. Ankur took a train back to Delhi the same day.
"Out of a feeling of jealously, spite, anger and revenge he decided to attack her. I am amazed some men cannot stand the success of women," said Himanshu Roy, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime).
"There were no clues. It was a needle in a haystack investigation" Mr Roy added. The police refused to divulge what led them to Ankur.
While the Mumbai Police Crime Branch have finally managed to crack the case, the question is, since the accused travelled in the same train and is a resident of the same colony as Preeti, why weren't the railway police who were investigating the case earlier, able to nab the accused?
The police say they have managed to recover crucial evidence like the bottle in which he carried the acid with him. They have also corroborated his journey to Mumbai and the return journey as well. The police say Ankur has admitted to the crime during custodial interrogation.
Under the new laws, Ankur faces a minimum sentence of ten years if convicted.