The IT capital Bengaluru hit the headlines in April 2022 when a lady confronted an acid assault on her option to workplace. It took two weeks for the police and a manhunt throughout states to nab the attacker.
With no concrete leads on the whereabouts of the attacker, a staff of greater than 200 police personnel branched out throughout states in South India. Finally, a devotee’s tip-off helped the police nab the accused who had develop into a ‘sanyasi (monk)’.
Acid Assault
On April 28, 2022, round 8.30 am, the sufferer was on her option to the workplace. When she was attending to the primary ground of her workplace constructing, a person got here from behind and threw concentrated sulphuric acid on her and ran away.
She sustained extreme burn accidents on her hand, chest, head, bottom and legs.
A police officer stated, “We acquired the details about the assault quickly and once we visited the hospital, regardless of being in ache, the sufferer gave us the identify of the suspect – Nagesh Babu, who was her neighbour. She was a gritty lady.”
The girl, then 24, an MCom graduate from a middle-class household, was additionally getting ready for banking examinations. She lived at her uncle’s home in Bengaluru and was gearing up for her elder sister’s marriage which was scheduled on Could 8.
The Motive
Following the criticism, the police additionally obtained maintain of CCTV footage. A police officer stated, “The sufferer had given the identify and in addition the motive. We questioned her uncle who narrated the whole episode.”
Nagesh Babu, then 27, the proprietor of a garment manufacturing facility, was a tenant in the home of the girl’s uncle for seven years and used to stalk her. He proposed to the girl on a number of events however his advances had been spurned. Nonetheless, the girl didn’t inform her household about Nagesh. However on April 27, 2022, Nagesh Babu adopted her and tried to forcibly marry her. This time, the girl knowledgeable her aunt and uncle about it.
Because the matter escalated, the girl’s uncle requested Nagesh to vacate the home and in addition referred to as the latter’s elder brother to tell him in regards to the incident. The following day, Nagesh Babu carried out the acid assault.
‘Devotee Police’
Whereas it was not troublesome to determine who the perpetrator was, it turned a difficult activity to trace him down. A police officer stated, “Often, in crime instances, we get to know the motive after the arrest of the accused once we query him. However on this particular case, we knew the motive. However arresting him turned an enormous problem.”
A police officer who was a part of the investigating staff stated they had been beneath extreme stress to arrest the perpetrator because the case acquired nationwide consideration. At the moment, Kamal Pant was the Bengaluru metropolis police commissioner and he had deployed an enormous variety of police personnel for the manhunt. House minister Araga Jnanendra was additionally amassing info from the highest cops every single day. Many civil teams staged protests demanding the arrest of Nagesh Babu.
“We looked for potential leads and discovered that Nagesh’s cell phone was final energetic in Hoskote beneath Bengaluru Rural, which can be near the Tamil Nadu border. Nagesh had made the final telephone name to his brother whereby he admitted to the crime. He disposed of the cell phone earlier than leaving Hoskote. A number of groups visited a number of locations in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala looking for Nagesh,” the police officer stated.
Nonetheless, after getting no leads, the Bengaluru metropolis police on Could 4 sought public assist and launched a number of pictures of Nagesh. “In each state, we launched pictures of Nagesh Babu with textual content in a number of languages. Nonetheless, we had been unable to trace him… there have been no outcomes for at the very least two weeks.
“We had accomplished each potential factor to trace Nagesh Babu. We had picked up his sister and brother for questioning. We additionally tried checking his debit card utilization however he had disposed of the cardboard. He had additionally offered equipment from his garment manufacturing facility earlier than the incident,” the police officer added.
On Could 13, 2022, the Bengaluru police acquired a tip-off from Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvannamalai district. A police officer stated, “The native police had acquired info from a devotee {that a} sanyasi at an ashram resembled Nagesh Babu. The informant got here throughout the images of Nagesh Babu launched by the police.”
Two Bengaluru policemen visited the ashram disguised as devotees and spent practically an hour there to be sure that the particular person of curiosity was Nagesh Babu. He was dressed as a sanyasi and was serving to the ashram authorities. As soon as the police confirmed his identification, they nabbed Nagesh Babu and returned to Bengaluru. On Could 14, 2022, Kamal Pant in a press meet introduced the arrest of Nagesh Babu. By then, Nagesh Babu who had tried to flee the police close to Kengeri was shot in his leg by one inspector Prashanth.
A police officer stated that after the acid assault, Nagesh Babu had reached an ashram in Tamil Nadu and had expressed his want to develop into a sanyasi to serve the individuals. With out conducting any verification, the ashram authorities offered him with meals and shelter. He didn’t have any purpose to come back out of the ashram, serving to him to stay in hiding.
Current Standing
After the incident, the state authorities bore the bills of the sufferer’s remedy as she needed to endure a number of surgical procedures. The state authorities additionally offered her with a job. Then again, in August 2022, the Bengaluru metropolis police filed a 770-page chargesheet, which included the statements of 92 witnesses, earlier than the extra chief metropolitan Justice of the Peace courtroom.
Although Nagesh Babu utilized for bail, the courtroom rejected his plea. Nagesh Babu had claimed that he was harmless and was affected by gangrene however the courtroom rejected the bail plea contemplating the seriousness of the offence. Nagesh Babu continues to be in judicial custody.
Then again, the sufferer’s uncle stated she was beneath extreme melancholy however the assist of the media and the general public helped her to bounce again. “She is doing properly in her life now,” he added.
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