Wanted to teach her a lesson for hiding her marriage, says Ghaziabad acid attack accused

The prime accused in the August 20 acid attack on a 32-year-old woman in Ghaziabad has said his intent was to ‘deface the woman for life’. Police said the man has a “disturbed family history” and that could have triggered his aggression.

Rahul Garg, the prime accused, and his friend Umang Pratap Singh were arrested on Wednesday by Ghaziabad Police after the incident on Monday whey they poured acid on the woman . She suffered nearly 60% burn injuries and is undergoing treatment at Delhi’s Safdarjung hospital.

“I wanted to teach her a lesson. She never told me that she was married and has a child,” Garg claimed.

The police said the two started meeting frequently after coming in contact on a social media site in October 2017. “Once, Rahul saw her boarding a Fortuner and got suspicious. He started following her. His suspicion grew when during a party in June, he again saw her with the man in the SUV,” a police officer said.

The police said a week before the wedding of the woman’s sister on July 19, Rahul saw the woman yet again in the Fortuner SUV.

“As disagreements grew between them, the woman stopped responding to Garg’s calls and messages. Garg then went to her house on July 30 and told her husband about their relationship and about the man in the SUV. He also threatened the family and told her that he wanted to marry her. The woman’s husband wanted to lodge an FIR against Rahul but the other family members dissuaded him,” Vaibhav Krishna, senior superintendent of police, said.

The woman’s husband mentioned the July 30 incident in the FIR filed after the acid attack.

“Garg tried every possible way to contact her even after July 30. Around August 11, he planned the acid attack. His father has a business of paint peeling wherein chemicals are used and that helped him source the acid from an acquaintance. A litre of the acid was delivered to him nearly two days before the attack,” the investigator said.

The police also believe that Garg’s family history added to his aggression. They said Garg has an elder brother whose wife left him a fortnight after the wedding. Garg also got divorced within seven to eight months of the wedding.

“His brother has become mentally upset after the breakdown of his marriage. Rahul also went through a similar situation. He was aggravated when he came to know that the woman was married and had a child,” the investigator said.

“I tried to persuade her time and again but she refused to marry me. I tried everything but she was not ready to leave her family and child. I had no way left to convince her and planned the attack. I had read and heard about acid attacks. So I sourced the liquid from a known person,” Garg said.

The police are still investigating the role of the person who procured the acid for Garg. They have kept his identity confidential for now.

Both Grag and Umang were booked under IPC sections 326a (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by use of acid, etc) and 120b (criminal conspiracy) at the Kavi Nagar police station.

First Published: Aug 23, 2018 10:59 IST