IT capital Bengaluru hit the headlines in April 2022 when a woman suffered an acid attack on her way to office. It took two weeks of police and statewide manhunts to catch the attacker.
With no solid leads on the assailant’s whereabouts, a team of over 200 police personnel branched out to the states of South India. Eventually, a tip-off from a devotee helped the police nab the accused, who had turned ‘sanyasi (monk)’.
Acid attack
On April 28, 2022, at 8.30 am, the victim was going to office. When he reached the first floor of the office building, a person from behind threw sulfuric acid on him and ran away.
His arms, chest, head, back and legs were seriously injured.
A police officer said, “We got information about the attack quickly and when we reached the hospital, despite the pain, the victim gave us the name of the suspect – Nagesh Babu, who was his neighbour. She was a gracious woman.”
A 24-year-old M.Com graduate from a middle-class family was also preparing for the banking exam. She was staying at her uncle’s house in Bangalore and was preparing for her sister’s wedding scheduled for May 8.
The motive
After the complaint, the police also seized the CCTV footage. A police officer said, ‘The victim also told the name and the reason. We asked her uncle who narrated the entire episode.”
27-year-old Nagesh Babu, the owner of a textile factory, stayed in the house of the woman’s uncle for seven years and used to beat him. He proposed to the woman several times but her advances were rejected. However, the woman did not inform the family about Nagesh. But on 27 April 2022, Nagesh Babu followed her and tried to forcibly marry her. This time the woman informed her aunt and uncle about it.
As things escalated, the woman’s uncle asked Nagesh to vacate the house and also called Nagesh’s elder brother to inform him about the incident. The next day, Nagesh Babu threw acid.
‘Devoted Police’
It wasn’t difficult to find out who the culprit was, but tracking him down became a challenge. A police officer said, ‘Usually in the case of a crime, after the arrest of the accused, the reason is known during interrogation. But in this particular case, we knew the motive. But arresting him has become a big challenge.
A police officer who is part of the investigation team said that since the incident has attracted national attention, they are under intense pressure to arrest the culprits. At that time, Kamal Pant was the Commissioner of Police of Bengaluru city and he mobilized a large number of police for the search. Home Minister Araga Gyanendra was also receiving information from the top police daily. Many civic groups have protested demanding the arrest of Nagesh Babu.
“We searched for possible clues and found that Nagesh’s mobile phone was last activated at Hoskote under Bengaluru Rural, which is close to the Tamil Nadu border. Nagesh made the last call to his brother in which he confessed to the crime. He disposed of the mobile phone before going to Hoskote. Several teams visited several places in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Kerala in search of Nagesh,” the police official said.
However, after getting no leads, the Bengaluru city police sought the public’s help on May 4 and released several photographs of Nagesh. “In every state, we released images of Nagesh Babu with text in multiple languages. However, we were unable to track him down…with no results for at least two weeks.
“We tried our best to track Nagesh Babu. We took the sister and brother for questioning. We also tried to check his debit card usage but he had already disposed of the card. He had also sold his textile factory machinery before the incident,” said a police officer.
On May 13, 2022, Bengaluru Police received a tip-off from Thiruvannamalai district in Tamil Nadu. A police official said, “The local police received a tip-off from a devotee that one of the monks of the ashram resembled Nagesh Babu. The informant saw the photograph of Nagesh Babu released by the police.
Two policemen from Bengaluru visited the ashram disguised as devotees and spent about an hour there to ensure that the person of interest was Nagesh Babu. He was helping the ashram authorities by dressing as a monk. Once the police confirmed his identity, they arrested Nagesh Babu and returned to Bengaluru. On 14 May 2022, Kamal Pant announced the arrest of Nagesh Babu in a press conference. By then, Nagesh Babu, who was trying to escape from the police near Kengeri, was shot in the leg by an Inspector Prashant.
After the acid attack, Nagesh Babu reached an ashram in Tamil Nadu and expressed his desire to become a monk to serve the people, a police officer said. Without any verification, the ashram authorities provided him with food and shelter. He had no reason to leave the hermitage, helping him stay hidden.
current status
As the victim had to undergo several surgeries after the incident, the state government bore the cost of his treatment. The state government has also given him a job. On the other hand, in August 2022, the Bengaluru city police filed a 770-page chargesheet, which included the statements of 92 witnesses, in the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court.
Although Nagesh Babu applied for bail, the court rejected his application. Although Nagesh Babu claimed that he was innocent and was suffering from gangrene, the court rejected the bail application considering the seriousness of the crime. Nagesh Babu is still in judicial custody.
On the other hand, the victim’s uncle said that she was in severe depression but the support of the media and the public helped her to bounce back. “She is doing well in her life now,” he added.
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