Cousins behind ‘chemical powder’ attack on Jalandhar girl

Avneet Kaur
Jalandhar, February 2

Three among the four accused were on Saturday arrested for throwing chemical powder on a 24-year-old woman in broad daylight at PAP Chowk on January 30.

The police have identified the two main accused as Gurdeep Singh (28), who is victim’s aunt’s son, and Jaswinder Singh (30), a close relative. They both are residents of Una district in Himachal Pradesh. The other two accused have been identified as Mani and Preet.

Preet is at large, police said.

Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said: “Gurdeep Singh, who works in the Army, wanted to marry the victim. When the girl rejected his proposal, he got angry and threw acid on her.”

Bhullar said that Gurdeep was to pay Rs 25,000 for the crime to be done, adding that, “Rs 5,000 was paid in advance and Rs 20,000 was to be given after the crime was comitted in Ludhiana where they were to meet later.”

Maninder Kaur had suffered burn injuries in her right eye, face, neck and forehead and was hospitalised for treatment.

The incident took place around 7.30 am on Werdnesday, when Kaur, a resident of Transport Nagar, who works as lab technician in the Johal Hospital here was on her way to job.

Kaur said the moment she stepped out of the autorickshaw at PAP Chowk and started walking towards the Rama Mandi side, she felt burning sensation on the right side of her face.

Talking to The Tribune, Ashwani Kumar said, "Two motorcycle-borne men, who seemed to be in 25-26 year age group, threw some chemical powder on the girl's face and sped towards Jalandhar-Phagwara road." He said he tried catching the miscreants but they sped away. Ashwani Kumar, autorickshaw driver, rushed the girl to the hospital.