Acid attack on Russian woman: I didn’t want her to leave me, says accused

[related-post]

At a press conference on Saturday, where the accused was also present, Varanasi SSP Akash Kulhari said: “The woman’s condition is stable. However, for best possible treatment, she is being taken in an air ambulance to Delhi. The reason behind the attack has now become clear with the arrest of the accused. He had developed a close relationship and did not want the woman to leave him.”

Srivastava, while admitting to his “guilt”, said: “I really feel ashamed of my act. I don’t know whether I would ever be able to meet her in my life. I threw acid on her in a fit of rage as she was not willing to talk to me. I was disappointed with her decision to go back to her country. Though she had turned down my marriage proposal, I was fine with it. But I did not want her to go away.”

Lanka Station Officer Sanjeev Kumar Mishra said Srivastava had even researched on the Internet — with the help of the victim’s cellphone — about the legal repercussions of buying, storing and throwing acid on somebody. Significantly, the police have recovered from Srivastava’s possession a receipt for the acid he had bought on November 6.