Delhi Police arrested one accused and apprehended a juvenile in connection to a case where a 17-year-old youth was force-fed acid by a group of men after they got into an argument with him over refusing to sell paneer (cottage cheese) at his shop in South-East Delhi’s Sangam Vihar. Two other accused are on the run.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, South-East district, Romil Baaniya, said the arrested accused has been identified as Talib (20) and one juvenile (15) has also been apprehended in the case. Now injured is also fit for statement and he named both.

On 24th July, Yogesh and his mother Mamta Devi who run a dairy shop on the ground floor of their house (along with Yogesh’s father Brijesh Kumar) were at the counter. Two youth came to buy cottage cheese around 9 pm but as the stock was over, Yogesh’s mother refused to sell it. But the youths forced them and barged inside the shop.

“I told them that I do not have any left and that they can buy it in the morning once I get the fresh stock but they forcefully entered the shop and started checking the refrigerator,” said Devi.

“My son asked them to leave the shop. The youths overturned the cupboard and even slapped by son when he tried to intervened. When I raised an alarm, the youths left the shop but threatened to return. They got out of the shop, picked up a knife from the vegetable cart parked in the area and threatened to stab my son. They, however, had to leave as many people had gathered by then,” Devi said.

The next day, the youths reportedly returned to the shop with a group of other men when Yogesh was alone in the shop. They held him inside the shop and forced acid down his throat.

“Yogesh was about to draw the shutter and come back home. I was waiting for him when I heard a loud scream. I went to see if he was fine and saw a group of boys running out of the shop,” she said.

“When I went downstairs, I saw Yogesh vomiting blood. His entire mouth had burnt and he was seething with pain. We rushed him to the hospital. It was later that I found out that they were the same boys who threatened to kill him yesterday,” she said

Yogesh’s family has alleged that the accused youth, including Golu (Aakash Gupta) who is yet to be arrested, are of a criminal bent of mind and have other cases registered against them as well.

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