Woman athlete staged acid attack in Meerut to save boyfriend jailed in gangrape case

MEERUT: On February 28, two women athletes claimed that were attacked with acid when they were returning home after their practice in Meerut. However, the police have now revealed that no such attack had taken place. The two women, Shalu - a local boxing player, and Garima - a wrestler, had allegedly conspired to frame a third woman, Soni Kumari, due to an ongoing rivalry between them.

Police claimed that Shalu threw a low-caustic acid which is used to sour milk on herself and also on the floor around her. She even threw some on Garima to make the incident look believable. The two are undergoing treatment for burn injuries.

After the alleged acid attack, Soni was arrested after and sent to district jail on Wednesday. Her brother-in-law was also arrested later that evening. However, the police decided to investigate further into the case when some people told them that Soni's brother-in-law was at home at the time of the alleged attack.

It was then realised that the attack was staged to put pressure on Soni Kumari to withdraw a gangrape case that she had filed against Shalu's boyfriend for which he had been jailed. 

During the probe, it was found that Soni's brother was sent to jail on charges of rape in September 2016. A year later, Soni had filed gangrape charges against the brother of the woman who had pressed charges against Soni's brother and two others. 

One of the three men charged in the case filed by Soni was Shalu's boyfriend Rajesh Khari, the only one who was arrested. 

The police found a loophole in Shalu's statement after she kept saying that she used to go to the jail to visit her father who was behind bars in a murder case, but found that he had already been released in May 2017. Shalu had claimed that in one of her visits to the jail, she had a confrontation with Soni, which was the reason for the enmity. On probe, police found that Shalu visited the jail to meet her friend Rajesh Khari. 

Shalu allegedly took the extreme step to frame Soni put pressure on Soni to withdraw the gangrape case.

Police are planning to hold an inquiry against her for providing false information with an intention to cause harm. An investigation has also been ordered in the gangrape case that Soni had filed which police claim may be false.