Acid case accused arrested: police

Mandi, Dec 21 (UNI) The Himachal Pradesh Police today claimed to have re-arrested the accused in the Mamta acid case, 142 days after he escaped from police custody while being brought here for trail.

The police arrested Mohammad Magroob from a house in Zaffer Coloney in Meerut late last night following information that he was hiding there, district SP M Chandra Shekhar said at a press conference here.

The HP Police had arrested Magroob for throwing acid on Mamta Katoch, then a BA second year student of Mandi Degree College, in a bus on May 17, 2004 after she spurned his advances.

However, he gave the police a slip on August 1, earlier this year, while being brought here for trial after the HP High Court cancelled his bail following a plea by the victim's father that he and his friends were threatening his family with dire consequences for pursuing the case.

Mr Shekhar said a police team, led by Mandi SHO Rajesh Kumar, arrested him at about 2230 hrs late last night from a house in Zaffer Colony in the town following information that he was hiding there.

Magroob was brought here and produced before the court today, he said.

The incident had sparked off violence in this town, with two mosques being damaged and several people injured after police resorted to firing to bring the situation under control.

Mandi district SP said Magroob's arrest was the culmination of a frantic search for him in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttaranchal besides other places in the state.

UNI XC-AS DP VD DB1846