NELLORE: Venkatachalam police have taken Nellore Nagaraju, 34, into custody for allegedly attacking a 14-year-old girl with toilet-cleaning acid and slitting her throat in Bujabuja Nellore near Nellore city on Monday evening. Nagaraju is the uncle of the girl. The victim, who was undergoing treatment in a private hospital in Nellore, was shifted to a private hospital in Chennai for better treatment. Her condition is said to be stable.
According to police, Nagaraju is the nephew of Rajagopal, father of the girl. Nagaraju, who resides near their house, has been visiting the victim’s house for the last 10 days when her parents were not there. The parents of the victim work in a nearby private company. According to police, the accused plotted to steal cash and gold ornaments from the house of the victim.
On Monday, Nagaraju visited the house and tried to attack the girl. She entered the bathroom and tried to close the door. Infuriated Nagaraju attacked her with acid used for cleaning toilets and allegedly slit two sides of her throat with a knife. The girl fell unconscious in the bathroom. Nagaraju thought that she died and left the place with Rs 4,000 and gold ornaments from the almirah.
After some time, she regained consciousness. Hearing her cries, neighbours rushed into the girl’s house and found her bleeding. They alerted her parents and they shifted her to Nellore GGH and then to a private hospital in Nellore. Guntur range DIG Trivikram Varma said that Nellore Nagaraju, the uncle of the minor girl, tried to kill the 9th standard student for stealing valuables from the house.
Police recovered gold ear studs and cash from the accused. The DIG said that police would file a chargesheet against the accused within seven days. Meanwhile, Minister Kakani Govardhan Reddy along with DIG Trivikram Varma and Collector KVN Chakradhar Babu handed over a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to family members of the victim.
“A minor surgery was done on the girl in Nellore hospital. She was shifted to a private hospital in Chennai for better treatment. Under the direction of the Chief Minister, the district administration handed over a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the family of the victim. The State government will bear the entire medical treatment cost of the victim,” the minister said. Stern action will be initiated against the accused. The accused was taken into police custody within a few hours after the incident was reported, he said.