india

Updated: Jul 08, 2019 23:34 IST

Acid was thrown on the face of a minor girl by a next-door neighbour in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district on Sunday and another was gangraped by five men in West Midnapore, police said.

A 20-year-old man allegedly threw acid at the Class 10 madrasa student because she turned down his marriage proposal. The accused is missing since the incident, said police officers.

“A few days ago Jamat Sheikh asked my sister to marry him but she turned down the proposal. Since then he bore a grudge,” said an elder brother of the victim.

”We have registered a case of acid attack but the accused is on the run. We are trying to nab him,” said Sheikh Mohammad Azim, sub-divisional police officer. In the other incident, four persons, aged between 22 and 25 years, were arrested on Monday morning for allegedly raping a minor in Debra.

“We have arrested four out of five men named in the police complaint. The four admitted that they raped the girl. We have registered an FIR on specific (gang rape) charges,” said Qazi Shamsuddin Ahmed, additional police superintendent, Kharagpur.

The arrested said they recorded the brutality on mobile phones, according to police.

Police officers rescued the victim from a spot near Radhamohanpur railway station, about 3 km from the spot of the crime.

The fifth person named in the FIR, Chiranjit Acharya, is the son of Aloke Acharya, a local Trinamool Congress (TMC) functionary of Debra panchayat samiti.

“There was a programme in our house on Sunday and it ended late in the night. I have heard that there was a police complaint against my son. But he was in the house. BJP leaders made a false allegation against my son,” said Aloke.

BJP workers demonstrated in front of Debra police station on Monday afternoon, demanding arrest of Chiranjit.

“We suspect that the police might not go after Chiranjit Acharya, since he is the son of a TMC leader. We have demanded that he has to be arrested quickly,” said Antara Bhattacharya, a BJP leader. West Midnapore TMC president Ajit Maity said, “Let police investigate and follow the due process of law.”