A 17-year-old boy was forced to drink acid by a group of people, a day after a scuffle over selling paneer here, family members said.
A police officer privy to the case identified the victim as Yogesh Sagar and said the incident took place in Sangam Vihar area of south Delhi late on Tuesday.
The officer said that a case has been registered but no one has been arrested yet.
Sagar is recuperating at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) but hasn't yet begun talking, his father Babulal, 43, told IANS.
Babulal said that they ran a dairy on Ratiya Marg of Sangam Vihar and lived on the first floor of the same building.
"On Monday, around 9 p.m., two people came to our shop and asked for paneer. When he (Sagar) said that paneer is out of stock, they came inside the shop and searched the fridge," Babulal said.
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This led to a verbal altercation followed by a scuffle between Sagar and the two persons, who left after threatening him.
Around 11 p.m. on Tuesday as Sagar was closing the shop, some nine persons ganged up on him, according to his family.
"Two of them held him at gun point while another forced acid down his throat," Baburaj said.
As the family came downstairs on hearing Sagar's screams, they found him lying on the floor, the acid bottle next to him.
He was taken to a nearby hospital which referred him to AIIMS.
The family said the accused live nearby and used to frequent the shop and added that there were several cases registered against them.
"He hasn't started to talk yet, but conveyed what happened that night through actions," Babulal added.
--IANS
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