Two women arrested over acid attack on beautician

Patna: Police on Tuesday claimed to have uncovered a chilling conspiracy behind the acid attack on a beautician in the Barh subdivision of Patna, leading to the arrest of two women who were accompanying the victim at the time of the incident. Investigators said the motive was personal jealousy linked to a suspected extramarital affair.

The attack took place on Sunday evening on Station Road under Mokama police station when the victim, Sushma Gupta, was returning home from her beauty parlour with two other women. Two bike-borne assailants stopped near them, pretended to ask for directions to Begusarai and suddenly threw acid on her before fleeing. Sushma sustained burn injuries and bruises after falling into a roadside drain and was rushed to a nearby private hospital.


Barh SDPO I Anand Kumar Singh said the investigation, initiated on the basis of the victim’s statement, revealed that the attack was pre-planned. “The probe uncovered that the two women deliberately led her along a specific route under the pretext of stopping for chaat. One of the accused harboured long-standing resentment towards the victim, suspecting her of having an illicit relationship with her husband,” he said.

He said earlier disputes had erupted over the alleged affair. “In a bid to end it permanently, she believed that disfiguring the victim’s face would force her husband to distance himself. To execute the plan, the accused hired a local youth to carry out the attack,” the SDPO said.

Police identified him as one of the motorcycle-borne assailants, while the second rider remains unidentified. During raids, police recovered Rs 97,000 in cash, allegedly meant as payment for the attacker, along with three mobile phones and a motorcycle from the residence of one of the accused women. From the assailant’s house, acid-burnt clothes and a glass bottle used in the crime were seized.

All seized items have been sent to the forensic science laboratory for examination, Mokama SHO Kunal Kumar said. He added that both women were produced before court and sent to judicial custody following their arrest on Monday evening.

“Raids are on to arrest the main assailant and his accomplice,” the SHO said, adding that police found no evidence to support the allegation that the victim was involved in any extramarital relationship.

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