Mumbai: With two more arrests, Crime Branch claims to have cracked a recent acid attack case in which a 22-year-old woman was injured at Goregaon station.
Police had earlier nabbed Nasir Shaikh alias Pintu and his mother Manju Anwar Ali Shaikh, on whose orders the offence had been carried out. On Monday, Unit X of Crime Branch apprehended the two accused identified as Firoz Memon alias Papa (23) and Firoz Zuber Sheikh alias Mannu (20).
The mother-son duo had given the contract to Sheikh and Memon to disfigure the victim, Nallasopara resident Aarti Thakur.
According to the police, the mother-son duo had planned the crime because they had lent Rs 10 lakh to Aarti's father and the latter was not returning the money.
Manju had already paid Rs 40,000 to the attackers and would have paid more after the contract was fulfilled. Cops revealed that Pintu loved Aarti and wanted to marry her.
But she was not interested. This also became a motive for the crime.
Try, try, try again
Aarti was first attacked in November last year when she was walking in Malwani area. The second attack happened in December. Both times, she was struck on her face with a small knife.
No case was registered then. On the third occasion, she suffered 10-15 per cent burns from the acid attack. Her eyebrows, chin, chest and forearms were partially burnt.
According to the police, they had used several informers to crack the case as it had become a challenge for them.
Cops say that since the first two hits failed to yield satisfactory results, Manju promised the perpetrators more money if Aarti was attacked with acid.
"We have arrested the accused and now the motive behind the attack is clear.
The two miscreants arrested on Monday had played an active role in assaulting the victim," said Assistant Police Inspector Rauf Shaikh of Crime Branch Unit X.
The mother-son duo has been booked under Sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 120 (B) (punishment of criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
Acid attack
Aarti, an HSC pass-out from SNDT College, has been working as a telephone operator in a private firm at Goregaon for the past one year.
During the last attack which took place at at Goregaon station, Aarti was walking to the ticket-punching machine when her assailants threw acid on her face.
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