Lucknow acid attack: No evidence of outsider involvement; CM doubted veracity of incident

Lucknow: The police on Monday said they have found no evidence to suggest that Sunday’s  acid attack on a gangrape survivor living at a working women’s hostel in Aliganj was carried out by someone from outside.

In a press statement, the Lucknow SSP office said King George’s Medical University doctors on Monday conducted a forensic examination of the burn injuries the 45-year-old woman had received on her face and neck. It also said an FIR was filed by the woman’s husband and the field unit of the police visited the crime scene.

The police team found no evidence to suggest presence of acid at and around the spot the woman was found lying in the hostel, the release said. There is also no footprint on the walls of the hostel and the eye witnesses too said they had not seen anyone coming in or going out of the building, it said.

Therefore, it is clear no one from outside had come into the hostel and thrown acid on her, it concluded.

The woman, who hails from Raebareli, had on Sunday alleged she was attacked with acid at her hostel the previous night — the fourth alleged acid attack on her in eight years. She had alleged the attackers had fled by climbing the wall as she raised an alarm.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had on Sunday  expressed doubts over the incident , saying it may have been staged to defame his government.

“Ye ghatna sachmuch ghatna hai ya fir ghatna ke naam par kuchh log kewal badnaam karne ki sajish rach rahe hain (Has this attack really happened or are some people hatching a conspiracy to defame the state government),” he had said.