Delhi’s acid attack was staged: How revenge led a DU student and her father to fake the crime

Just a day after a college student was admitted to the hospital with burn injuries from what was believed to be an acid attack in northwest Delhi, the case has taken a dramatic twist.

The 20-year-old woman had claimed she was attacked by a man who had been stalking her for days. But as investigators dug deeper, a completely different story began to emerge.

According to officials, the woman’s father, identified as Aqeel Khan, has now confessed to fabricating the entire acid attack story to frame three men. He revealed that his daughter had carried a bottle of toilet cleaner from their home and poured it on her own hands to fake the attack.

The Delhi Police is set to take legal action under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against the accused and his daughter for plotting the fake story.

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Here’s how the shocking plot unfolded.

How a Delhi student plotted a fake acid attack story

Woman claims acid attack

A 22-year-old BCom student from Delhi University claimed she was attacked with acid while on her way to attend an extra class at Lakshmibai College.

In her statement, the woman alleged that the main accused, Jitender, a resident of Mukundpur, approached her on a two-wheeler with two friends, Ishan and Arman.

According to her, Ishan handed a bottle to Arman, who then hurled a flammable substance at her. She said she managed to protect her face but ended up with burns on her hand.

Her brother later told the media that she had suffered multiple acid burns. “I know one of the attackers. He stays near our home. He had been stalking my sister, and she confronted him last month. We want justice; the accused should be put behind bars,” he said.

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Following the claim, police went out looking for the three accused, who were reported to be on the run.

The case had shaken th capital, with the National Commission for Women and even the Delhi Lt Governor taking cognisance.

Lt Gov of Delhi VK Saxena has taken an extremely serious view of the recent unfortunate incident of acid attack in the Capital. He has instructed the Commissioner of Police to ensure that the guilty are arrested and brought to the book at the earliest, and the most stringent… pic.twitter.com/4udROGk5QL

— ANI (@ANI) October 27, 2025

How the acid attack story fell apart

It didn’t take long for investigators to notice that something wasn’t adding up in the young woman’s account.

According to PTI, police began spotting inconsistencies in her statement soon after the probe began. One of the first clues came from the phone records of the alleged main accused, Jitender. His call detail records (CDR) placed him in Karol Bagh at the time of the supposed attack, far from the scene of the crime.

“So far, his location at the time of the incident does not place him at the crime scene. Multiple angles are being verified. His call detail records show him in the Karol Bagh area and not near the college,” an officer told PTI.

#WATCH | Delhi: DCP North-West Delhi, Bhisham Singh says, "Yesterday morning, we received a call at 10:52 am from Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital, about the admission of a girl with burn injuries. As per the statement of the girl, a case has been registered, in which she has alleged… https://t.co/XJy7Lw0SaG pic.twitter.com/MeD6g6EUSS

— ANI (@ANI) October 27, 2025

CCTV footage and witness statements later backed up this finding. Further, the bike that the woman had described in her complaint was also discovered parked in Karol Bagh.

Investigators grew even more doubtful after learning that the woman had gotten off an e-rickshaw about 200 metres away from her college. To add to the suspicion, no traces of acid were found on the wall near the alleged attack site, sources told PTI.

Why did man make up the fake acid attack story? 

Investigators believe the incident may have been motivated by revenge. The father had previously been accused of raping the wife of one of the accused, and hence, he decided to frame him in the acid attack case.

Just two days before the alleged incident, Jitender’s wife made a PCR call claiming that she was being blackmailed and harassed by Khan. She told police that between 2021 and 2024, she had worked at Khan’s factory, where he sexually assaulted her and later threatened her with “objectionable photos and videos”.

Based on her complaint, police questioned Khan, and that’s when the truth began to surface. During interrogation, he admitted to fabricating the entire acid attack story to frame Jitender and his friends. The “acid” used in the act, he confessed, was actually a common toilet cleaner that his daughter had carried from home.

Meanwhile, police said that Jitender’s friends, Arman and Ishan, are currently in Agra with their mother, Shabnam, and are expected to join the investigation soon.

In another twist, Shabnam told investigators that she herself was a victim of an acid attack back in 2018, allegedly carried out by relatives of Aqeel Khan. She also revealed that she and Khan are locked in an ongoing property dispute over a plot in Delhi’s Mangolpuri, which is still pending in court.

With input from agencies