A 20-year-old student at Delhi University and her father have been detained for staging a fake acid attack outside Laxmi Bai College to implicate a man and his friends. The act was taken after a woman complained to the father, accusing of rape and blackmail on the man.
Special CP Law & Order, Delhi Police, Ravindra Singh Yadav, said that the accused were not at the scene of the alleged crime, and the attack was a conspiracy to shield the father from police action.
Police disclosed that Aqeel Khan, the woman's father, confessed to planning the incident to attack three men with whom he had personal disputes. Investigators added that Khan also admitted to raping one of the men's wives, whom he had originally tried to implicate.
DCP (Northwest) Bhisham Singh had earlier said, “This was confirmed by CDR analysis of his mobile phones, CCTV footage and witness statements. Also, the bike, which was mentioned in the complaint, was spotted in Karol Bagh during the incident.'
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Contradictions and CCTV evidence
As per a report by The Hindustan Times, CCTV footage refuted the woman's accusations, indicating that she had left home with her brother on a two-wheeler, who then dropped her in the Ashok Vihar area. From there, she was seen to be taken by an e-rickshaw, and none of the accused were at the scene. The DCP said, "We are also examining why her brother did not drop her at the college gate. He has been unavailable and is not joining the investigation."
On Tuesday, Special CP Law & Order Delhi Police Ravindra Singh Yadav said, “A dispute is going on with those relatives over the land, and in a dispute over a plot, they threw acid on a woman who has ownership rights over that plot… This was done as part of a conspiracy, and the purpose was to save the girl's father from that case...”
Police also detected flaws in her version. The investigators are convinced the woman used a toilet cleaner at home to harm herself and orchestrate the attack, the Hindustan Times reported.
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Revenge motive behind the plot
Two days before staging the acid attack, the wife of the accused man had filed a rape and blackmail complaint against Aqeel Khan. The woman claimed Khan raped her while he employed her at his factory between 2021 and 2024 and blackmailed her with intimate photos and videos. Khan evaded questioning, sending his attorney and an Islamic cleric in his place, so police initiated a search before arresting him in Sangam Vihar on Monday.
The two other men who had been named in the acid attack case were found to have been in Agra with their mother during the occurrence. The police also observed that the wife of one of the accused had suffered a previous acid attack in 2018 and is now engaged in a property dispute with Khan.
Special CP Yadav explained that the fake attack was a plot in a bigger conspiracy related to a land issue. Aqeel Khan has been taken into custody for sexual harassment and extortion, and the investigation is on in the case of false acid attack allegations.
