23-yr-old Ghaziabad woman injured in acid attack, female friend main suspect
According to the family of the victim, the woman was pressurising her not to end their friendship.
Ghaziabad: A 23-year-old woman suffered major burn injuries after two bike-borne assailants threw corrosive substance, likely to be acid, on her while she was travelling in a shared auto-rickshaw in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad on Tuesday. Five co-passengers also sustained burns.
A 25-year-old woman, who was once a friend of the victim, is prime suspect in the case.
According to the family of the victim, the woman was pressurising her not to end their friendship.
The woman was a colleague of the victim in her previous job in a company in Noida. However, their friendship soured after the victim moved to a new job, alleged the victim’s family.
The young woman, who is from Kondli in Delhi, and the victim had frequent altercations, police quoted the victim’s family as saying.
“She is the same age as my daughter. They were friends earlier but my daughter snapped communication and she had been pressuring her to resume communication. We also lodged several complaints against her at Sahibabad police station and also at New Kondli police station, where she lives. She issued threats and followed my daughter regularly,” the victim’s father said.
According to a report in Hindustan Times, the woman along with two unidentified men have been named in the First Information Report (FIR) lodged under section 326a (throwing acid).
The incident occurred at around 9:30 am on Tuesday near Mohan Nagar intersection.
Rahul Kumar, one of the passengers, said, “There were two young women, an elderly couple and myself in the auto. I was sitting alongside the driver. The victim was in the left of the rear passenger seat. Suddenly, two men came on a black bike and threw a plastic bag at her. It was filled with some blackish-blue liquid.”
“Within seconds I could feel that my T-shirt had got burnt and the victim started screaming,” he added.
The victim, a marketing executive operating from a bank branch in Ghaziabad, was brought to Safdarjung hospital in New Delhi with chemical burns.
“According to doctors treating her, she has sustained 25 per cent burns on her face and is in a critical condition. She has been admitted to the burns ICU (intensive care unit) of the hospital. The doctors also want to check whether there is any damage to her eyes,” said the hospital spokesperson, Poonam Dhanda.