3 held for acid attack on bar singer

Dharavi police arrested three persons for allegedly disfiguring the face of a female bar singer by throwing acid on her from a motorcycle in Dharavi on the wee hours of April 5.

“Santosh Shinde, 25, Atish Ingole, 27, and Rajesh Verma, 26, were arrested from Kherwadi in Bandra (East) and booked under sections 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapon)  and 34 (common intention) IPC. The trio was remanded to police custody till May 16 by the holiday court on Saturday, said police inspector NV Tungare of Dharavi police station and added that a manhunt has been launched to nab their associate who is at large.

During interrogation, Santosh Shinde the main conspirator, revealed that he would visit Sibu Palace Bar in Bandra (East) regularly where the victim Jamna Beda, 25, is a singer.

Few days before the acid attack, while she was singing in the bar, he caught hold of her hand. She retaliated by hitting him with her footwear and abused him.

Originally hailing from Orissa, Beda has been working in Sibu Palace Bar as a singer for the past seven years. She was residing in Chembur Colony on rent. The incident took place at around 1.40am, while she was on her way home in an autorickshaw.

A shocked Beda asked the auto to take her to the bar, from where the bar owner Shetty immediately rushed her to Bhabha hospital. Shetty then informed the police and a case was registered.