Random ‘acid’ attack in Kolkata targets women

UNIDENTIFIED MEN THREW ACID BULBS AT PASSERSBY IN THE WEST BENGAL CAPITAL

KOLKATA: Six people, including five young women, were injured after unidentified men threw acid at them from a moving taxi on Sunday night in a middle-class neighbourhood of south Kolkata, eyewitnesses and police said on Monday.

The i ncident took place between 9 and 9:30pm along Panditia Road in the West Bengal capital where unidentified men threw acid bulbs at passersby. They attacked people indiscriminately and and no one was the target, in particular, police said.

“We were returning home with my friend around 9pm. A yellow taxi approached us and the driver extended his hand and threw something that hit me at the right of the face. There was a sharp burning sensation. I cried out and rushed home to splash water,” a young woman from the locality said.

She added that the liquid also hit one of her friends accompanying her. “A daughter of one of my friends was also attacked from the taxi. But she escaped with minor injuries,” Jayanta Das, a resident of Panditia, said.

The victims were taken to Ramakrishna Mission Seva Prathisthan Hospital and then to SSKM Hospital, where they were discharged after first aid. No one has been arrested yet.

“The taxi was intercepted but the driver managed to flee. A case has been registered at Rabindra Sarovar police station,” Meeraj Khalid, Kolkata Police’s deputy commissioner (south), said.

The police have interrogated the vehicle’s owner, who told them that its driver, Riki Mondal, lived alone in a rented room nearby. However, the police found Mondal’s place locked when they went there on Monday morning. A police officer, who did not want to be named, said they are trying to ascertain the nature of the liquid that was hurled.