New Delhi, Oct 27 (IANS) In a stunning development in the acid attack case near Laxmi Bai College, Delhi Police have tracked and apprehended Akil Khan, the father of the 20-year-old victim, who was previously reported as absconding.

The arrest, confirmed late Monday evening by senior officials at Bharat Nagar police station, marks a pivotal shift in an investigation already mired in contradictions, family vendettas, and competing narratives of harassment and revenge.

Khan, a 45-year-old factory owner from Mukundpur, was located hiding in a relative’s residence in neighbouring Ghaziabad after a tip-off from local intelligence networks.

According to police sources, he is being transported back to Delhi under heavy escort for intensive questioning, expected to commence early Tuesday at the station’s interrogation cell.

Authorities suspect his involvement in orchestrating elements of the incident or fabricating details to bolster the initial complaint, though no formal charges have been filed against him yet in the acid attack FIR.

The case erupted on October 26 around 10:52 a.m., when the victim—a second-year Non-Collegiate Women’s Education Board student affiliated with Delhi University—was admitted to Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital with severe burns on both hands and minor splashes to her stomach.

In her initial statement to Sub-Inspector Ravi Rathi, she accused acquaintance Jitender, a 28-year-old married painter from Gali No. 17 in Mukundpur, along with his associates Ishan and Arman, of ambushing her on a motorcycle en route to an extra class at the college in Ashok Vihar.

She claimed Jitender, whom she alleged had stalked her for over a year, culminating in a heated argument a month prior, orchestrated the assault, with Arman hurling the corrosive substance.

Forensic analysis by the Forensic Science Laboratory confirmed the liquid as a potent acid, causing five per cent burns primarily from her instinctive shielding of her face with her bag.

A case under Sections 124(1) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita was registered as FIR No. 605/2025, with crime scene teams scouring the area near the college gate for residue and eyewitnesses.

Yet, within hours, the probe unravelled the account’s foundations. Call Detail Records (CDR), CCTV from Ashok Vihar and Karol Bagh, and multiple witness statements placed Jitender at a legitimate painting contract in Karol Bagh from dawn, his motorcycle stationary there during the attack window.

No footage showed the alleged trio approaching or fleeing, and spectral tests on site samples yielded inconclusive traces inconsistent with a high-velocity throw.

Deeper scrutiny revealed a tangled web of prior grievances. On October 24—mere days before the attack—Jitender’s wife had filed a PCR complaint at Bhalswa Dairy police station, accusing Khan, her ex-employer at his now-defunct garment factory from 2021 to 2024, of repeated sexual harassment, coerced physical relations, and extortion via compromising photographs and videos.

That separate FIR is under active investigation, with Khan’s arrest now potentially consolidating the threads. CCTV timelines further muddied the waters; the victim departed her Mukundpur home on a scooty piloted by her brother, who inexplicably dropped her blocks short of the college before disappearing. She then transferred to an e-rickshaw for the last leg.

The brother’s unavailability for questioning has intensified suspicions of familial coordination, with police issuing a lookout notice and raiding potential hideouts in outer Delhi.

Ishan and Arman, brothers from Mangolpuri, remain in Agra with their mother Shabnam, a survivor of a 2018 acid attack she attributes to Khan’s relatives over a disputed Mangolpuri property still in court.

Shabnam has pledged their swift return for polygraph-assisted interrogations, hinting at a long-simmering feud that may have escalated into this proxy violence.

As the victim, transferred to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital for specialised burn care and psychological support, issues a public plea for justice—insisting on the stalker’s guilt despite evidentiary gaps—Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena has ordered a time-bound inquiry.

The National Commission for Women and student groups like the Students’ Federation of India decry the episode as emblematic of faltering women’s safety, demanding enhanced AI-monitored surveillance around campuses.

Deputy Commissioner Bhisham Singh cautioned that while the injuries are irrefutable, the motive demands forensic and testimonial rigour to avert injustice.

With Khan’s interrogation poised to unlock confessions or alibis, this saga—from alleged predation to possible perjury—exposes the corrosive underbelly of personal animosities in a city grappling with 147 acid attacks reported in 2025 alone, per National Crime Records Bureau data. Truth, it seems, may prove the most searing element yet.

–IANS

sktr/dan