Daijiworld Media Network - Chikkamagaluru (SP)
Chikkamagaluru, Apr 22: On Tuesday April 21, the police made three more arrests relating to the incident in which acid was thrown at a woman at Menase near Sringeri, causing loss of eyesight in one eye, severe damage to the other eye, and injuries to her face. The woman, a divorcee, was staying in her parental home and running a beauty parlour to eke out livelihood.
The persons now arrested are Kabir (30), an auto rickshaw driver from Sringeri (30), Majeed (36) from Karkala, who works as mason, and Vinod (38) from Shivamogga. It may be recalled that main accused, Ganesh, was arrested on Monday. Ganesh runs a mobile phone shop in Sringeri and supposedly was interested in marrying the victim and had become angry after she rejected his advances.
District superintendent of police, R Chetan, giving details of the case on Tuesday, said that the policemen have recovered two bottles of acid, a car, two motor bikes, two helmets and six hand gloves from the possession of the arrested men.
'When the injured woman was questioned, she expressed the suspicion that Ganesh might be behind the attack. We arrested him from Manipal, after finding that he had been to that place. During his interrogation, he confessed that he, along with three of his associates, had committed this crime in order to settle personal scores and also create problems in the life of the woman. Ganesh had entered into agreement with Kabir, fixing the price for the attack at Rs 20,000. Both Kabir and Majeed collected Rs 5,000 as advance amount. On April 18, they arrived at the lady's house in a motor bike owned by Ganesh's elder brother, and attacked her with acid after striking a conversation with her in the guise of seeking directions, when she was parking her scooty in the compound of her parents' home. Immediately after returning home, they left the motor bike there, and proceeded in a car to Manipal hospital to visit Ganesh's mother, who was being treated in a hospital there, to ensure that no one doubted their role in this attack,' the superintendent of police narrated.