A jewellery store owner arrested for staging an acid attack in a scheme to escape debts. Mandya district in Karnataka has revealed in a shocking case how a jewellery store owner staged an acid attack against himself in a plot to deceive creditors and evade credit back payments. Jitendra Singh, owner of Mahalakshmi Jewellers in Kyathanahalli village, in Pandavapura taluk, purportedly poured a chemical substance on his own face and filed a false police complaint. He had planned to deceive creditors and flee with gold and silver worth lakhs of rupees.
Singh had borrowed money from several people to purchase gold and had also taken jewellery items on pawns. Not able to repay his debts, he staged an acid assault on February 10. The attackers, he said, attacked him and poured acid on his face while robbing his shop of 170 grams of gold and 8 kilograms of silver. Singh even claimed the robbers had stolen the CCTV camera and DVR so that they could get away without having to be seen.
Mandya SP Dr. Shobharani V J explained the matter was registered as a medico‑legal matter. Singh initially filed a complaint and the police became suspicious from the inconsistencies in the story. The missing CCTV footage was later pulled from an adjoining pond and showed Singh pouring the chemical on his face. The investigation also found Singh to have given his friend Aryan 8 grams of gold and 1 kilogram of silver, prior to staging the attack.
After deceiving his creditors, Singh had intended to shutter his business and take himself to Rajasthan, police found out. His plan to fabricate an actual robbery story was intended to inspire sympathy and evade payment. The evidence against him, however, was unmistakable, and the plan failed once the CCTV footage was retrieved.
Singh was arrested for orchestrating the attack and reporting a false complaint. The case illustrates how debt-fueled desperation can drive people to the extremes. It is further evidence of how detailed police investigation is critical to uncovering fraudulent claims.
The arrest of Jitendra Singh for having staged an acid attack on himself stands as an example of how dishonesty and misuse of the law can backfire. In fact, through his deception of creditors, he had not only disappointed his clients, but his entire reputation had been ruined and he was subsequently prosecuted. It serves as a wake-up call about the importance of financial prudence, not to mention the costs to your bottom line of turning to criminal enterprises as a means of paying down debt.
