A woman was being blackmailed and threatened by a man who promised to marry her. They decided to talk and meet at a restaurant in the morning. A few minutes into the conversation, she pulled a bottle out from her bag, opened the cap and threw the liquid on his face. It was acid. The incident occurred in Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh and the man reportedly suffered serious burn injuries.

“He was blackmailing me and asking for money that’s why I threw acid on him. I didn’t marry him and married someone else. I’m divorced…he told me he would marry me but he kept on threatening me,” the woman alleged.

The man, Vivek, suffered burn injuries to his arm. He removed his shirt and fled from the restaurant before the police could arrive. Meanwhile, the woman – a mother – has been taken into police custody and requested anonymity.

“We had just opened the restaurant. When they came, we were cleaning the restaurant. She was sitting outside and later came inside. Five minutes later, a man came to meet her. They ordered a dosa and chole bhature. They were talking and I went for breakfast. A man came running and said sir, please see what happened…I couldn’t understand what happened, and then the woman said, I threw acid on him,” the restaurant manager said.

The manager said, “She told me the man had been troubling me for years and blackmailing me for several years and that’s why I threw acid on him.”

The police said the woman also suffered burn injuries in the incident and medical treatment is being provided to her. Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mayank Pathak, said, “The man and the woman knew each other and there were personal differences. The man is on the run.” Mr Pathak said it would be too early to comment on the woman’s claim that she was being blackmailed, the matter is under investigation and efforts are on to find the man.

– With inputs from Adnan Khan