He Let Daughter's Hands Burn To Cover Up Rape. How Police Unravelled Plot

A sexual assault, a police complaint, toilet cleaner burns, a stalker story, and the dramatic unravelling of it all -- the twists and turns in the Delhi "acid attack" case -- the attack that wasn't -- would leave scriptwriters with writer's block.

The case is also deeply problematic for the way in which Aqeel Khan used his daughter to cover up his sexual crimes against a woman, and the family's decision to misuse a law made to protect women from a despicable crime.

Officers of the Delhi Police meticulously detangled the acid attack story narrated by a 20-year-old college student over a day and a half. The investigation, which had started with the woman's hospitalisation and shocking allegations, ended with her father's arrest.

Ravindra Yadav, Special Commissioner of Police, Law and Order, shared with NDTV how Delhi Police cracked the bizarre case.

'One Arrow, Many Targets'

The senior police officer said several members of Aqeel Khan's family were involved in the conspiracy. A woman who worked in his factory between 2021 and 2024 levelled rape allegations against him two days before the alleged acid attack. She accused him of sexually exploiting her and blackmailing her using private photos and videos.

To avenge this, Khan made an elaborate plan. His daughter faked an acid attack and named the woman's husband as the main accused. She told police that he had been stalking her for quite some time.

The other two accused, Armaan and Ishaan, were not random choices either. They are Khan's relatives, and back in 2018, their mother, Shabnam, accused Khan of sexual violence as well as an acid attack. Shabnam has told police that the families are also locked in a property dispute.

"We have unravelled the conspiracy. It was a plan to hit multiple targets with one arrow," Special Commissioner Yadav told NDTV.

The Staging Of An Acid Attack

Yadav said that Khan's son dropped his daughter near Lakshmibai College in northwest Delhi on Sunday. She had brought along an acidic toilet cleaner and also a spare garment. She poured the toxic chemical on her hands and suffered burns. After hospitalisation, she told the police that three men on a bike stopped her and one of them threw acid at her. Her hands suffered burns because she raised them to shield her face, the 20-year-old told police.

As the investigation began, police found holes in the woman's account. While there were traces of acid on the ground, there were no such traces on the wall near which she claimed the attack took place. Also, hospital authorities said the woman had suffered minor injuries, but her brother told the media that her condition was "critical".

How Police Unravelled The Case

"When we questioned the main accused, he said he was at Karol Bagh all day. We confirmed this using three methods: we tracked his phone location using technical analysis, we scanned CCTV footage and we also checked at the place where he said he was working. When we were satisfied that he was innocent, we started a deep dive to unravel this conspiracy," the senior officer told NDTV. Two teams, he said, were on the ground: one worked to unravel the conspiracy, the other looked for Khan.

Police found that the main accused is the husband of the woman who accused Khan of rape. They also found that Khan is an accused in an acid attack case filed by Shabnam, the mother of Armaan and Ishaan. "The matter is under trial. He felt he could be convicted, so he tried to frame the two," he said.

Besides Khan and his daughter, his son and brother were also part of the plot. "The whole thing was fabricated; she poured acid on her hands and levelled accusations," the officer said. He said Khan's family members will face action for filing a false complaint.

Khan was arrested late last night in connection with the rape case, and his questioning revealed the shocking attempt to misuse a law brought to bring justice to women in acid attack cases. Police also found 60-odd private photos and videos of the woman who has accused him of rape.