Miscreants threw some unidentified liquid chemical on six people, most them women, from a running taxi on Sunday night on a posh area in south Kolkata, eyewitnesses and police said on Monday.
The taxi has been identified using the CCTV footage from a nearby building.
“A case has been registered and the investigation is still going on. The liquid thrown was not acid and officially we cannot declare what it was. It was something like battery water,” a Sub Inspector of Rabindra Sarobar Police Station told IANS.
One of the victims claimed that the chemical it was either some acid used in cars or that used in toilets.
“Had there been personal enmity then someone would have been attacked, but in this case, the five to six people who were attacked don’t even know each other,” said an eye witness.
The owner of the car has been identified and interrogated by the police.
“I visited the police station where the case has been registered and spoke to the officials. They told me that the driver is absconding leaving behind the car.
“When I tried to locate him at his residence where he lived with his mother, I found the house locked and none of them was there,” the owner said.
The victims had no inkling of the attack as the car was about to pass by.
“We didn’t realise anything of this sort. Initially I thought it to be dirty water or something. As it started burning I had to rinse it with water. Later, I got to know that many others had been attacked,” said a female victim.
“If something of this sort happens in such a posh area, then we won’t be able to move out of the house freely. It is very disturbing,” she added.
As per the eyewitnesses, there were around four men inside the moving taxi.