A 45-year-old “jilted” woman allegedly hurled four litres of acid on a 28-year-old veterinary doctor on Monday morning in Vaishali area of the Ghaziabad district in Uttar Pradesh. The victim was admitted to a private hospital and is in a critical condition.
The alleged acid attack took place at around 8 am at the dog care clinic in Sector 4 of Vaishali area where the victim, Amit Verma, worked as a veterinary doctor.
According to Verma’s roommate and friend Deepak, the veterinary doctor was lying on a couch in the clinic when the accused woman barged into the room and threw a bucket of acid on him.
“Since the clinic’s door was open, she sneaked into the living room and threw acid on Amit’s face and other parts of the body. She immediately fled from the clinic while Amit was shouting in pain. I took him to a private hospital nearby and immediately informed the police,” said Deepak.
The police reached the hospital as Verma was being treated for his burns. However, the police could not record the victim’s statement as he was unable to speak.
“The patient has sustained 40 per cent burns on his face, chest, abdomen and arms. He is currently under observation,” said Dr Sunil Dagar of Yashoda Hospital in Kaushambi.
The UP police said that the victim is a native of Aligarh and his family was informed about the incident. He had joined the dog care clinic in Vaishali on April 26 and had been living in the house adjacent to it since then. According to Deepak, before joining the clinic, Verma was working as a veterinary doctor at a slaughter house in Meerut. “Amit was staying at a rented accommodation and he developed a close relationship with the 45-year-old landlady. However, when he left Meerut and shifted to Vaishali in Ghaziabad, it didn’t go down well with the woman,” he said.
Deepak added that the woman followed him to Vaishali and met him over three times in the past 18 days.
“As soon as Amit was injured, I had asked him who did it and he uttered the words ‘Aunt’ after which I realised that it is the same landlady who had been pursuing him for long. She had called the Amit for more than 100 times between Saturday and Sunday, but Amit did not respond to any of her calls,” said Deepak. “The woman left behind a purse with an identity card of another woman to confuse the police. Things will be clearer once the victim’s condition is better,” said Gorakhnath Yadav, SHO, Indirapuram police station.
