Chef held for alleged acid attack on woman, her friend

Crime branch sleuths launched a parallel investigation into the case. Cops checked about 50 videos captured by CCTV cameras from Tadiwala road to Pune Railway station area.

It revealed the accused escaped by the Chalukya Express train. Police said the accused changed his clothes thrice while travelling by train to evade police.

However, police nabbed him with the help of a Railway Protection Force (RPF) team at Hubli in Karnataka on Thursday within 24 hours after the offence came to be reported. He was then brought to Pune for further investigation, police said.

Police inspector Sudarshan Gaikwad of crime branch said both the accused and the victim woman hail from Madhya Pradesh and were in a relationship in the past. He added that, the woman, now working at a hotel in Pune, was in a relationship with another man. She had lodged a molestation case against the accused in the past.

Police said he had been asking the victim to withdraw this case. “Due to these disputes, he came to Pune from Madhya Pradesh with an inflammable liquid and committed the crime. The accused worked as a chef at a plush hotel in MP,” Gaikwad said.