Maha: Acid attack victim dies after 16-hr fight for life; accused nabbed (Ld)

BY QUAID NAJMI Beed (Maharashtra), Nov 15 : In a heart-wrenching Diwali tragedy, a 22-year-old victim of acid attack by her boyfriend lay abandoned in a roadside ditch for over 12 hours, and after a 16-hour fight for her life, she died in a hospital here on Sunday morning, police said.
Moving swiftly, teams of Maharashtra Police launched a manhunt for the absconding accused and zeroed in on him at his hideout in Nanded district on Sunday evening, Neknur Police Station Investigating Officer Laxman Kendre informed amid a political uproar.
The ghastly incident happened early Saturday morning when the duo – Avinash R. Rajure, 25 and Savitra D. Ankulkar, 22, rode on a motorcycle from Pune to their home in Shelgaon village, Nanded district, for Diwali celebrations, said Kendre.
“En route on the 450-km journey, around 2 am on Saturday morning, the accused Rajure stopped his vehicle at a desolate spot on the Yellamb Ghat region and attacked the victim,” Kendre told IANS.
The police official said that first the accused attempted to strangulate her but she fought back, then he took a bottle of acid and threw it on her as she screamed for help in the dead of the night in that remote area.
Not stopping at this, he removed petrol from his vehicle, poured it on her, set her afire, pushed her into a deep ditch beside the road as she burnt and fled from the spot.