Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
New Delhi, Oct 27 (IANS) In a surprising development in the acid attack case near Lakshmi Bai College, Delhi Police has traced and arrested the 20-year-old victim’s father Akil Khan, who was earlier reported absconding.
The confirmation of the arrest, made by senior officials of the Bharat Nagar police station late on Monday evening, marks a significant turn in the investigation already mired in contradictions, family vendetta and competing stories of persecution and revenge.
Khan, a 45-year-old factory owner from Mukundpur, was found hiding in a relative’s house in neighboring Ghaziabad following a tip-off from the local intelligence network.
According to police sources, he is being taken back to Delhi under heavy security cover for intensive interrogation, which is expected to begin in the early hours of Tuesday at the station’s interrogation room.
Authorities suspect his involvement in arranging elements of the incident or preparing details to strengthen the initial complaint, although no formal charges have been filed against him yet in the acid attack FIR.
The case came to light around 10:52 am on October 26, when the victim – a second-year student of the Board of Non-Collegiate Women’s Education, affiliated to Delhi University – was admitted to Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital with severe burns on both her hands and minor lacerations on her stomach.
In her initial statement to Sub-Inspector Ravi Rathi, she accused acquaintance Jitendra, a 28-year-old married painter of street number 17 in Mukundpur, along with his associates Ishaan and Armaan of ambushing her on a motorcycle to an additional class of the college in Ashok Vihar.
She claimed that Jitendra, whom she accused of stalking her for over a year, culminating in a heated argument a month ago, planned the attack, in which Armaan threw a corrosive substance.
Forensic analysis conducted by the Forensic Science Laboratory confirmed that the liquid was a powerful acid, causing five percent burns primarily due to the spontaneous shielding of his face with his bag.
The case was registered as FIR No. 605/2025 under sections 124(1) and 3(5) of the Indian Code of Justice, in which crime scene teams searched the area near the college gate in search of remains and eyewitnesses.
Yet, within hours, the investigation exposed the account’s foundation. Call detail records (CDR), CCTVs of Ashok Vihar and Karol Bagh, and statements of several witnesses placed Jitendra on a valid painting contract in Karol Bagh since the morning, with his motorcycle parked there during the window of the attack.
No footage showed the alleged trio arriving or fleeing, and spectral tests on samples from the site found inconclusive marks consistent with a high-velocity throw.
Before thorough investigation, a tangled web of complaints emerged. On October 24, just days before the attack, Jitendra’s wife had filed a PCR complaint at the Bhalswa Dairy police station, accusing Khan, his former employer at his now-closed garment factory, of repeatedly sexually assaulting her, forced physical relations and extorting her through photographs and videos from 2021 to 2024.
That separate FIR is under active investigation, with Khan’s arrest now potentially strengthening the threads. The CCTV timeline made the case even dirtier; The victim left her Mukundpur home on a scooter driven by her brother, who inexplicably dropped her some distance away from the college before disappearing. She then shifted to an e-rickshaw for the final leg.
The brother’s unavailability for questioning has raised suspicions of family coordination, with police issuing lookout notices and conducting raids at possible hideouts in outer Delhi.
Mangolpuri’s brothers Ishaan and Armaan, live in Agra with their mother Shabnam, who is a 2018 acid attack survivor, over Mangolpuri’s disputed property she holds Khan’s relatives for, which is still in court.
Shabnam has promised a quick return for polygraph-assisted questioning, hinting at a long-running feud that could escalate into this proxy violence.
As the burn victim, who was shifted to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital for specialized care and psychological support, has issued a public plea for justice – insisting on the stalker’s guilt despite the apparent gap – Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena has ordered a time-bound inquiry.
Student groups such as the National Commission for Women and the Students’ Federation of India condemned the episode as a symbol of undermining of women’s safety and called for increased AI-surveillance surveillance around campuses.
Deputy Commissioner Bhisham Singh cautioned that the injuries are irrefutable, but the motive demands forensic and testimonial rigor to prevent injustice.
With Khan poised to extract confessions from his interrogation or expose secrets elsewhere, the saga – ranging from alleged victimization to possible perjury – exposes the corrosive underpinnings of personal animosity in a city grappling with 147 acid attacks reported in 2025 alone, according to National Crime Records Bureau data. It seems that truth may prove to be the most serious element yet.
–IANS
sktr/and