Chargesheet filed in Preeti Rathi acid attack case

Mumbai: Eleven months after the acid attack on Delhi resident Preeti Rathi here which claimed her life, Mumbai police on Wednesday filed a 1,322-page chargesheet against the accused Ankur Panwar.

"The chargesheet was today filed in the Esplanade Court (magistrate's court in south Mumbai). There are 98 witnesses, besides strong scientific evidence against the accused," Joint Police Commissioner (Crime), Sadanand Date said.

Panwar (23), a hotel management graduate, was identified during the identification parade by the witnesses, Date added. The chargesheet mentions that Panwar threw acid on Preeti on May 2, 2013 at Bandra station here, as he was jealous of her career growth.

Date added that the chargesheet mentions where he procured the concentrated sulfuric acid and how he shuttled between the cities to evade arrest following the crime.

The crime branch would request the government to appoint noted lawyer Ujjwal Nikam as the special public prosecutor in the case, Date said. Panwar, who was Rathi's neighbour in bhakra beas management board colony in Delhi, was arrested from the national capital in January.

On May 2, 2013, acid was flung at Rathi when she got down from Garib Rath Express at the Bandra Terminus. She was supposed to join Colaba Naval hospital (INS Ashwini) as a staff nurse.

Having suffered severe damage to the lungs, she succumbed at the Bombay Hospital here on June 1. According to the police, Panwar procured the acid on April 2 and boarded the same train by which Rathi and her family were travelling. He was travelling ticket-less.

He got the opportunity to throw acid at her when the train arrived at Bandra Terminus. With his face covered by a handkerchief, Panwar managed to escape after the attack and took the same train back home.

He is facing charges under sections 302 (murder), 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 326 B (voluntarily throwing or attempting to throw acid) of the Indian Penal Code.