Karnataka - Bangalore

Fiery attacker

Acid Raja targeted not only women but also policemen guarding parking lots, writes K.V. Subramanya

THE ACID attack on 45-year-old Elizabeth in Sadashivanagar police station limits on Tuesday brings back memories of such incidents that have shook Bangalore over the years.

In most of the cases, the victims were young girls such as Haseena and Shruthi or middle-aged women such as Noorjahan and Jacqueline Asha. Men known to these women had poured acid on them as they had rejected their proposals of love or spurned their sexual advances. However, the one name that Bangaloreans still recollect with horror is that of Acid Raja who had thrown acid on the faces of nine sex workers and eight policemen, including a sub-inspector.

Fear psychosis

Sex workers and constables in the city were gripped by a fear psychosis until the then Cubbon Park sub-inspector of police, B.B. Ashok Kumar, arrested Raja in 1990. On January 26, 1990, Nagaraj, a constable attached to the Cubbon Park police station, was guarding a car parking lot on King's Road when a man wearing a monkey cap came on a Luna moped and threw acid on his face.

Within a span of a few months, the Luna-borne man splashed acid on five more constables, all of whom were deployed at parking lots in Cubbon Park, Commercial Street and Ashoknagar police station limits. A constable from Ashoknagar police station, Ramakrishna, even lost his sight in one of the attacks.

During the investigation, Mr. Ashok Kumar came across Reshma, a sex worker, who told the police about Acid Raja. Reshma provided crucial information about Raja: he used to steal Fiat cars, extort money from sex workers and throw acid on them if they refused to entertain him.

Mr. Ashok Kumar, who is now Assistant Commissioner of Police (Ulsoor Gate), questioned all the nine sex workers on whom Raja had thrown acid, and gathered valuable information that led him to Raja's house in Ramamurthynagar.

On reaching Raja's house, the police saw cans of acid, car stereos and other car accessories packed in the chimney. Finally, when he came home at 11.30 p.m., the police overpowered and caught him.

Conviction

After Raja was arrested and charge sheeted by the police, he was convicted by the court. On his release in 1994, after a four-year jail sentence, Raja allegedly threw acid on the face of a sub-inspector attached to the Commercial Street police station. The then Commercial Street Police Inspector, Victor S. D'Souza, arrested him.

After being out of view for a few years, Raja surfaced in Mysore some time ago. He was arrested by the police there. He is now in Mysore prison.

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