Minor girl, granny attacked with acid in Goa, two held

A 16-year-old girl and her grandmother were today attacked with acid allegedly by two youths over an old dispute near Mapusa town when they were sleeping in their home, police said.
The duo, identified as Samir Desai and Narayan Gawas, were arrested on the complaint of the girl's father.
"Desai and Gawas were arrested for allegedly throwing acid at the girl and her grandmother in Gurim village near Mapusa town," Deputy superintendent of Police Mahesh Gaonkar told PTI.
The incident occurred at around 5:30 AM when the girl and her granny were asleep inside their home. Acid was hurled at them through the window.

The teenager sustained burn injuries on her face and the woman on one of her hands, he said, adding both of them were admitted to district hospital in Mapusa.
The officer said the girl's father in a police complaint said the family had a dispute with the duo over a common pathway in their village.

"We as a family want justice for Preeti, but putting an
innocent person behind bars will never give her justice," Anju said, adding Panwar used to call Preeti 'didi' and that the family cooperated with the police.
In his arguments before the court yesterday, Nikam had said it was a fit case for death sentence as it fell in the "rarest of the rare" category, while Panwar's lawyer Apeksha Vora pleaded for leniency citing his young age and because he was the sole breadwinner for his family.

"If he is given a lesser punishment, and if he is released after completing the sentence, other girls would not be safe," Nikam had submitted.
Mumbai police had filed a 1332-page charge sheet against Panwar, a hotel management graduate, in April 2014, and also submitted a list of 98 witnesses after he was arrested from the national capital in January.
According to police, Preeti had secured a nursing job with the Ministry of Defence at the INHS Ashvini Hospital here.
Also, Panwar's parents often told him about his failure to get a job despite completing his education and would praise Preeti.

Panwar wanted to disfigure Preeti's face so as to destroy her career. He procured the acid on April 2 and boarded the same train taken by Preeti and her family to Mumbai.
After his conviction two days ago, Panwar's mother Kailash had demanded a CBI inquiry, claiming her son had been falsely implicated while Preeti's father had sought death penalty.
Panwar allegedly flung acid on Preeti when she got down from Garib Rath Express at the Bandra Terminus and took the same train back home.
The gruesome incident had set the local police on a wild goose chase as Panwar had covered his face at the time of the attack.

The Railway Police, which initially probed the case, had arrested another neighbour of Preeti, Pawan kumar Gahalon, but set him free for lack of evidence.
Later, based on a Bombay High Court direction, the case was handed over to Mumbai Crime Branch, whose investigation led to Panwar.