Ludhiana acid attack: Accused woman wanted to target victim’s daughter, say police

The woman, who was arrested a few hours after attacking the victim, a TV mechanic, with acid, has been identified as Chanda Devi, 38, of Bhamian Kalan, while her lover Gopal, 33, a resident of Jamalpur, remains out of Ludhiana police net

In the acid attack case that rocked the Jamalpur locality of Ludhiana on Saturday, police on Sunday booked the accused woman’s lover, who they suspect was the mastermind.

In the acid attack case that rocked the Jamalpur locality of Ludhiana on Saturday, police on Sunday booked the accused woman’s lover, who they suspect was the mastermind. (HT Photo)

The woman, who was arrested a few hours after attacking the victim, a TV mechanic, with acid, has been identified as Chanda Devi, 38, of Bhamian Kalan, while her lover Gopal, 33, a resident of Jamalpur, remains out of police net.

As per the police, Chanda wanted to target the daughter of the victim, Jasvir Singh, 56, but could not find her at the time of the incident.

The exact reason behind the attack has yet to be ascertained as the police have been presented with two different versions of the story. The investigators are in the process to verify the claims of the accused and the victim.

In his statement, Jasvir said Chanda had come to his shop on Saturday evening with a bottle containing acid in her hand. Before Jasvir could react, she threw acid on him, which caused burn injuries on his face and back, and also affected his eyes.

The victim claimed that Gopal had sent Chanda with an intention to kill him. He said Gopal was his friend, but he had snapped ties with him following some issue last year. Jasvir alleged that Gopal was threatening him for the past one year and orchestrated the acid attack on him.

“However, the accused woman in her statement given to the police said that she had separated from her husband and befriended Gopal. The woman claimed that the victim’s daughter used to deter Gopal from talking to her following which, she nursed a grudge against the family,” Jamalpur SHO Bikramjit Singh said.

“We suspect that the woman wanted to attack Jasvir’s daughter with acid, but she was not present at the spot at the time of the incident,” he added.

A case under sections 307 (attempt to murder), 326-A (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by use of acid) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered against Chanda and Gopal.

The arrest of Gopal will bring more facts to the fore, the SHO said.