A 22-year-old youth has been arrested for attacking a woman with acid in central Delhi’s Chawri Bazar earlier last month. The accused had dared to call the woman to meet him again, a month after he threw acid on her.

Hailing from Pakistan, the victim has been living in India for the last six years after marrying an Indian, said police.

The incident had taken place on February 7 when the victim was going to Chawri Bazar to meet a doctor. Even as she was crossing Chandni Mahal by a cycle-rickshaw, she felt a burning sensation on her right hand.

Luckily for the woman, she suffered only minor injuries. She approached police to register a complaint, but could not give any description of the accused as he had fled before she could notice him.

But she did tell police that she was repeatedly being stalked by a stranger who even made several threatening calls to her, including warning her of acid attacks if she did not reciprocate his desire for her.

Investigations, including analysing the CCTV footage of the route taken by the victim that day, were taken up, but they failed to provide much clue.

Unaware that the victim had already informed police of the incident, Sultan called her again on Saturday and asked her to meet him near Golcha Cinema in Daryaganj.

Police were informed of the development and they laid a trap.

Just as Sultan arrived at the spot on his scooter, he sensed police presence and tried to escape by concealing himself behind a running bus.

Brief chase

But he was chased and nabbed. However before he could be caught, he tried to chew the SIM card from which he had called the woman. But the SIM card was recovered by police in a half-chewed state.

Police said he has confessed to the attack.

“He was annoyed with the woman for refusing his repeated calls for friendship and decided to take revenge on her. A month later, he thought the woman had forgiven him and expected that she would finally extend her hand for friendship. He was unaware that the woman had already filed a police complaint,” said a senior police officer.