The Mumbai Sessions Court has today convicted Ankur Panwar, the accused in the brutal acid attack on Preeti Rathi, under sections 302 and 326 B of the Indian Penal Code.
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According to police, Rathi had secured a nursing job with the Ministry of Defence at the INHS Asvini Hospital and Panwar was unhappy over it.
The prosecution argued that Rathi declined to marry Panwar as she wanted to pursue her career in Mumbai. Doctors tried their best to heal the burn injuries but the wounds continued to bleed and her kidneys also developed complications. The quantum of sentence will be pronounced by Judge AS Shende tomorrow. The court also held Panwar responsible for hurling acid at Preeti’s siblings. He then took out the acid from a container, threw it at her face, and ran away.
She succumbed to multiple organ failure on June 1 that year on account of the severe acid burns.
Ankur Panwar, a hotel management graduate, was a neighbour of victim Rathi and resided in Bhakra Beas Management Board Colony.
When the police finally caught up with him in January 2014, nearly a year after the incident, they learnt that he had attacked her because he was jealous of her success.
“We have been implicated just because we are poor”.
It proved he was present at the spot at the time of the crime in Mumbai though his (Panwar’s) family had earlier claimed he had gone to Haridwar and the Rathi family said they had not seen him on the train.
“It took three years for us to get justice but I am happy that it has been finally delivered”.
The accused deserves nothing less than death penalty, said deceased’s father who is suffering with cancer.
Defense lawyer Apeksha Vora, however, argued that Rathi died due to medical negligence and Panwar was falsely implicated.
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Panwar had covered his face with a handkerchief and it became practically impossible for the investigators to identity him though Rathi had named him as one of the possible suspects. Later, Mumbai crime branch arrested Panwar.
