Acid attack on Russian tourist in Varanasi

The woman had been staying in the house for the past few days, and reports say that the man was upset over the Russian woman’s decision to go back home since her visa had expired.

He said the suspect had fled and the police were searching for him.

Varanasi is 315 kilometers (195 miles) southeast of Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh state.

The accused in an alleged acid attack on a Russian national in Nand Nagar colony area, has been arrested here even as the victim was shifted to Delhi for better treatment.

The woman was taken to hospital by her landlord. Siddhartha told the police that he, along with the victim, travelled to Sikkim, Ladkha and Sri Lanka and had been in a relationship for the last six months. The woman suffered acid burns on the right side of her body and was hospitalised by the landlady, she was in a critical condition.

At a press conference here today, Kulhary clarified that the woman had dual citizenship of Russian Federation and Bulgaria and was living together with the accused as his companion and not as a paying guest.

In September, an American tourist had accused two men of raping her in the popular hill station of Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh. Close to 130,000 cases of sexual offenses against woman were registered in India in 2014.

More than 300 acid attacks were also reported in the span of one year.