Kaushambi acid attack: Mastermind, 6 others nabbed for injuring woman bank manager

Seven more people, allegedly involved in the acid attack on a woman bank manager in Charwa area of Uttar Pradesh’s Kaushambi district on August 8, were nabbed by the district police on Thursday. With that, nine persons, including the two accused nabbed after an encounter with the police on August 17, have been arrested in connection with the attack, the police said.

SP Kaushambi Hemraj Meena said among those arrested is a business correspondent named Ramchandra Pasi from the Sayd Sarawan branch of the national bank, where the woman manager too worked. Pasi planned the attack with another person named Azam, a former pradhan of the Sayd Sarawan village.

“The attack was planned and executed over differences between the business correspondent and the victim over approval of certain bank loans. Investigations led to suspicion on the business correspondent, a resident of Charwa, who used to take commissions for getting loans sanctioned and ran a racket. Azam was also upset with the woman over similar reasons. They together hatched a plan to threaten her so that she would get herself transferred to some other branch,” the SP said.

To execute the plan, the duo got in touch with Dharmendra Kumar and Dilip of Charwa Rampur village, Vinod Kumar of Ghuri village, Satpal and Man Singh of Pipri, Lovkesh of Kotiya and Ausaf of Sayd Sarawan — all arrested and sent to jail.

Also Read:Two arrested for acid attack on woman bank manager after encounter

As per the plan, Dilip and Man Singh waylaid the victim on August 8 and threw acid on her. As she was wearing a helmet, she escaped burn injuries on her face but did sustain burns on her neck, body, hands and leg. The duo then fled the spot despite being chased by locals, the SP said.

On August 17, the special operations group (SOG) team received a tip off that two miscreants involved in the attack were at the Gungwa Bagh area. Police teams surrounded them and ordered them to surrender. However, the accused opened fire on the police team. One of the bullets hit SOG in-charge Siddarth Singh but he escaped because of the bulletproof jacket. In retaliatory fire, the two accused suffered gunshot wounds in their legs.

“They were identified as Dilip Kumar of Charwa Rampur village and Man Singh of Kathgaon village in Pipri area,” the SP added.

Police officials said the duo confessed to attacking the bank manager with acid and also revealed the names of others involved in the assault.

An FIR, under sections 307 (attempt to murder), 352 (assault for grave injuries) and 326A (voluntarily causing grievous hurt) of the Indian Penal Code, was lodged against unidentified assailants on the complaint of victim’s father Rajurao Sonkar, a resident of Himmatganj area of Prayagraj, on the day of the incident itself.

The victim was first admitted to SRN hospital in Prayagraj but was later shifted to Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Science (SGPGIMS) in Lucknow for treatment.