Trivial case leads to acid attack conspiracy

Rajkot: In a case containing trappings of a ‘C’ grade Bollywood potboiler, the cracking of a trivial case of chain snatching and a cellphone loot led to a conspiracy of giving ‘supari’ (contract) for an acid attack on a woman.
The first case was about the chain snatching and the cellphone loot, in which Chetan Rathod (28) and Anmol Vala (19) had snatched a gold chain worn by Sharda Ashara (72) on the evening of March 8 at Dharmadarshan Apartment. The same evening, after committing the chain snatching, the duo robbed another elderly person Narendra’s cellphone worth Rs 5,000, near the same apartment.

After both Ashara and Narendra lodged complaints against the duo, police booked them for the crime and launched a manhunt.

Meanwhile, police received a tip-off that both Rathod and Vala were scheduled to meet at Greenland crossroads to plan about selling off the gold chain. The cops kept a watch and nabbed them with the chain.

“During interrogation, another crime was exposed. The duo said that they had actually gone to Dharmadarshan Apartment in search of a woman, identified as Neha. Builder Kamlesh Ramani had given them supari to attack the woman with acid. When they found Neha absent at her home, they robbed Ashra of her chain and Narendra of his cellphone before fleeing the spot,” said an official from Bhaktinagar police station.

The duo said they had received the supari against Neha from Ramani five months ago at Silver Heights, opposite Big Bazaar. Ramani was nursing some old grudge against Neha and he wanted to take revenge against her. Therefore, he gave Rs 35,000 to the accused duo as advance and promised to give them Rs 1 lakh after the attack was carried out.