Bengaluru Police Commissioner Pratap Reddy said on Thursday, January 5 that as no lawyer was coming forward to represent the accused in the acid attack case reported from Bengaluru in April last year, it was proving to be a technical roadblock for the prosecution.
Speaking to the media, Reddy added that as per the law, if the accused is not represented and vakalat is not filed for him, the case would not proceed further and therefore they will not get bail. “If an advocate represents the accused, the court proceedings will move faster and he will get punishment faster,” the Commissioner said.
The incident took place on April 28, 2022. The accused Nagesh, who was waiting in an autorickshaw near the workplace of the girl in Bengaluru’s Sunkadakatte, chased and poured acid on her, due to which the girl sustained 35% burn injuries. The police said that the accused studied in the same school with the victim in Class 10, and attacked her after she rejected his advances. The victim, a 23-year-old working woman, battled for her life for months in the hospital.
The Karnataka Police had submitted a 770-page chargesheet to the 13th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court in connection with the case in August 2022. The investigating police officers have named 92 witnesses in the chargesheet and also submitted statements of two eye-witnesses taken under IPC Section 164.
The Karnataka Police had formed 10 special teams to nab the acid attacker, as pressure mounted from all sides for the delay in his arrest. Finally, after 16 days, Kamakshipalya police nabbed him in Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu.
The accused Nagesh had managed to escape the police by disguising himself as a religious seer. The police went to the ‘ashram’ of the accused as devotees, and managed to get clues about him and finally nabbed him. The police had shot him in the leg when he tried to escape after being caught.