25-yr-old acid attack victim from Delhi dies in Mumbai

Preeti,who was to join Army Medical College in Colaba,Mumbai,was attacked by an unidentified masked man when she getting off Garib Rath train at Bandra terminus on May 2.

The accused was reportedly travelling in the same train as Preeti,who was accompanied by her father Amarsingh Rathi,uncle Vinod Kumar Singh and aunt Sunita Singh.

Preeti was initially admitted to Masina Hospital in Byculla and shifted to Bombay Hospital 16 days later.

Her body was sent to JJ Hospital for a post-mortem examination on Saturday.

Her family plans to meet Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil on Sunday. “We want an assurance from Patil that police will find my daughter’s attacker,” her father said.

Her death has come as major blow to police investigation. The GRP Crime Branch had said they were hoping that Preeti would help provide clues to her attacker.

“We were hoping she would get well and speak to us. We will try our best to bring the culprit to book,” Prabhat Kumar,GRP Commissioner,said.

On May 8,police arrested Preeti’s neighbour,Pawankumar Gahalon,when he called her younger sister Tanu to inquire about her health. According to police,Gahalon resembled the man who was seen fleeing the Bandra terminus in the CCTV footage. Gahalon,a 24-year-old BTech student,is in judicial remand.

Doctors at Masina Hospital had been attempting to stablise her and attend to the burn injuries on her face,chest and arms,but her internal burns were extensive.

“Ingestion of acid made a 2 cm hole in the left branch of her wind pipe,joining it to the food pipe. This was harming her lungs,” a doctor at Bombay Hospital said.

Preeti was among 200 candidates selected by AMC. In a note to her family,she wrote that she harboured hopes of making a full recovery and joining the AMC.

“She was responding to treatment till Friday,but only briefly,” a doctor said. The infection,which had caused her right lung to collapse and also affected her stomach,had reached her kidneys.

Doctors had been fighting to stem the massive loss of blood,but by Saturday morning,there was also bleeding in her gastrointestinal system. Once renal failure occurred early Saturday,doctors began to worry. “Her parameters began to fall drastically and she went into cardio-repsiratory arrest at 4 pm. We could not revive her,” the doctor said.

— with TABASSUM BARNAGARWALA