A day after a 14-year-old girl in Nellore district was attacked with acid and had her throat slit, the Andhra Pradesh police identified a man named Nellore Nagaraju – the girl’s cousin – as the prime suspect. Nellore Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) Harinath Reddy told the media on Tuesday, September 6 that after the attack, the girl managed to walk out of the house to seek help from neighbours. While she was unable to speak properly, she indicated through gestures that she was attacked by her cousin, 34-year-old Nagaraju, the DySP said. He also said that Nagaraju was in a drunken state at the time of the attack and was trying to steal gold ornaments and valuables from the house. While police initially believed that the girl was sexually assaulted, they have since found that she wasn’t, the police officer added. State Agriculture Minister Kakani Govardhan Reddy reportedly told reporters that Nagaraju has been taken into custody.
Narrating the sequence of events as per the preliminary investigation, DySP Harinath Reddy said that on Monday, while the girl’s parents were away for work, Nagaraju entered their house in Nakkala Girijana Colony of Chemudugunta mandal. Nagaraju, who is the girl’s father’s sister’s son, allegedly tried to attack the girl while in a drunken state, and the girl gave him her earrings after resisting the attack. He later returned to take some food from the house. Around 3 pm, he returned with the bowl and tried to attack her, and she tried to stop him as he tried to steal valuables from the house, the DySP said. When she finally ran away from him into the bathroom, “this man, who we believed to be the accused, took the bowl and filled it with acid he had brought along. He dipped a cloth in the acid and pressed it into her mouth and face. A few drops of acid went into her mouth and nose is what we found in the preliminary investigation,” the DySP said, adding that Nagaraju is an alcoholic. Nagaraju is then believed to have slit her throat, and assuming her to be dead, stole some valuables and left the house.
“Our main intention is to find out how and why the accused did it. We too initially thought that she was sexually assaulted, but we are finding now that it didn’t happen. Once she is conscious, we will investigate that angle also. If he did (sexually assault her), he will not be spared,” the DySP said, adding that the accused would be arrested soon and presented in court. An amount of Rs 4000 was missing from the house, along with the girl’s earrings, the police officer said. He added that the girl appeared to be out of danger and was shifted to a branch of Apollo Hospitals in Chennai.