Woman arrested for acid attack, four injured

A woman was arrested for allegedly throwing acid from her shop injuring at least four pedestrians, including a civic volunteer, in Kolkata on Sunday, police said.

"Manika Naskar (35), a shopkeeper, was arrested for allegedly attacking a person with acid during an altercation over money in Salt Lake's Nayapatty area. Some pedestrians present at the spot were also injured in the attack," an officer from Electronic Complex police station said.

According to police, Naskar had some financial dispute with a local person. During an altercation on Sunday afternoon, she hurled acid aiming at him. The acid also spilled on some pedestrians, including a civic volunteer, who were present at the spot.

"The victims suffered minor burn injuries in the attack and were released after administering primary first aid," the officer said.

Naskar was arrested and slapped with charges of acid throwing (IPC 326A) and criminal intimidation (IPC 506). The acid stored in her shop has been seized, police said.

Meanwhile, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Kolkata Police ran a joint raid with the state police personnel to seize nearly 90 kg of illegally stored sulphuric acid from Bardhaman district's Katwa on Saturday, a senior CID official said on Sunday.

"We have seized a huge amount of illegally stored acid from Burdwan and Katwa. We are investigating how the culprits managed to store so much acid without proper documents," the officer added.

--IANS

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