In a dramatic twist, the father of a 20-year-old girl, who had alleged an acid attack by three men in Delhi, was arrested on Monday in a separate rape case filed by the wife of the main accused.
The police also found in their initial investigation that it was not acid that had been thrown on the girl. Instead, she had taken toilet cleaner from their house and poured it on her hands, they said.
The investigators also claimed that the student fabricated the case at the instance of her father, who wanted revenge against the rape complaint.
In her complaint, the girl, a second-year BCom student enrolled in Delhi University’s Non-Collegiate Women's Education Board, had alleged that she was attacked with acid by an acquaintance, Jitender Singh and his accomplices, Ishan and Arman, both brothers, near Laxmi Bai College.
However, the police probe revealed inconsistencies in her statements. According to officials, the call records, CCTV footage, and witness statements placed her acquaintance in Karol Bagh at the time of the incident.
It also emerged that, two days before the incident, Jitender’s wife had filed a complaint against the victim’s father, Akeel Khan, accusing him of sexual harassment and blackmail during her employment in his factory between 2021 and 2024. A case in this regard was registered at the Bhalswa Dairy police station.
Meanwhile, it also turned out that both Ishan and Arman are the woman's relatives, and they were in Agra with their mother at the time of the alleged 'acid attack' incident. According to an ANI report, their mother herself had been a victim of an acid attack in 2018, allegedly by relatives of the DU student's father, following a property dispute.
On the basis of the allegations, police questioned Khan and arrested him when he revealed that he had fabricated the story of an acid attack.