Police give clean chit to main suspect in Delhi acid attack case

New Delhi, Oct 28 (IANS) The man accused of throwing acid on a 20-year-old girl near Laxmi Bai College in Delhi has been given a clean chit by the police after officials reviewed evidence showing that he was not present at the crime scene.

In her complaint, the acid attack victim had alleged that the accused was involved in the acid attack. However, during police questioning, the accused claimed that he was not present at the crime scene and was instead in Karol Bagh for work.

According to the police officials, CCTV footage from the Karol Bagh area shows the accused riding a motorcycle when the incident happened near the Laxmi Bai College. Based on this footage, the police have so far given a clean chit to the man.

Additionally, the acid attack victim's father, Akil Khan, has been arrested for sexually assaulting the accused's wife.

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.

Authorities suspect his involvement in orchestrating elements of the incident or fabricating details to bolster the initial complaint, though no formal charges have been filed against him yet in the acid attack FIR.

The case erupted on October 26 around 10:52 a.m., when the victim—a second-year Non-Collegiate Women's Education Board student affiliated with Delhi University—was admitted to Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital with severe burns on both hands and minor splashes to her stomach.

Forensic analysis by the Forensic Science Laboratory confirmed the liquid as a potent acid, causing five per cent burns primarily from her instinctive shielding of her face with her bag.

A case under Sections 124(1) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita was registered as FIR No. 605/2025, with crime scene teams scouring the area near the college gate for residue and eyewitnesses.

--IANS

sd/