A 17-year-old class XII student was subjected to an acid attack in the National Capital for allegedly declining to resume friendship with a boy. She is said to have fell out with him about two months ago. Along with the her former boyfriend, two of his friends were allegedly involved in the attack. The incident took place in the Mohan Garden area of the Dwarka district on Wednesday morning while the victim was on her way to her school along with her younger sister. The bike-borne assailants threw acid on her face before fleeing the spot leaving the victim got badly injured with severe burns on her face. Soon after the attack, the girl was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she is being treated in critical condition. A police team reached the spot after receiving information about the incident and initiated a probe after registering a case under relevant sections. Police teams, constituted to investigate the incident, succeeded in arresting all the three accused within 12 hours of the incident. The accused have been identified as Sachin Arora (20), Harshit Aggarwal (19), and Virender Singh (22), who procured the acid online through FlipKart. Special Commissioner of Police, Sagar Preet Hooda said the information about the incident was received from Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital on Wednesday morning at about 8.45am. According to a team of the Mohan Garden police station which rushed to the hospital soon after the incident, at Verma Chowk, Rama Park, two bike-borne boys came close to her and a pillion rider suddenly threw an acid-like substance on the girl and flew away. The girl was later shifted to the Safdarjung Hospital where she is under treatment with 8 per cent burns. Consequently, a case was registered and investigation taken up. Multiple teams of Mohan Garden police station and operations unit, Dwarka District were constituted under the overall leadership of Deputy Commissioner of Police, M Harsha Vardhan, to identify and nab the accused persons. During interrogation of the accused, it came out that Sachin was known to the victim and they were on friendly terms till September 2022. However, they had a breakup after September and the victim refused to talk to him. Due to repeated refusal from the victim, the the boy planned to commit the crime. The accused further disclosed that during the incident, Harshit was driving the motorcycle while Sachin threw acid on the victim. Meanwhile, the third accused, Virender, had allegedly aided the accused persons by being part of the criminal conspiracy. He took the scooty and mobile of the accused Sachin with him to another location before the incident, so as to create an alibi and mislead the police. On the basis of technical evidence it has been found that the accused procured acid from the online shopping website Flipkart. Initial investigation suggests that the acid used in the commission of crime was Nitric Acid, however, the forensic report is yet to be received. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Governor of Delhi VK Saxena spoke to the Delhi Police Commissioner and sought a detailed report about the incident. LG’s office tweeted, “LG has instructed for swift and thorough investigation so as to ensure exemplary punishment to the guilty. The LG is in touch with the Hospital Authorities and has urged them to ensure the best treatment. He has also assured all possible assistance to the victim and her family.” On the other hand, expressing shock over the incident, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, said, “This cannot be tolerated. How did the accused get the nerve to do this? The accused should get the strictest punishment possible. The safety of every daughter in Delhi is important to us.” As per sources, the Supreme Court had directed states and the Centre in 2017 to regulate the use of acid across the country to stop the incidents of acid attacks in the country. However, the ban appears to be ineffective with acid and similar corrosive substances available in the open market.

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