A jilted lover attacked a 27-yearl-old girl with acid on Sunday night in Butwal, resulting in her death on Monday morning due to injuries.

Tulasa of Gaidakot-6, Nawalparasi district, was rushed to Universal Teaching Hospital in Bhairahawa after Sunil Koirala, 28, of Naubise-1, Dhading, attacked her with acid on Sunday night when she refused his marriage proposal.

Dr Manohar Joshi of Universal Teaching Hospital said the victim had sustained more than 65 percent burn injuries.

According to DSP Mukunda Marasini, the couple was staying at a hotel in Butwal-6. Hotel staffers had broken into the room after they heard a cry for help at around midnight, said DSP Marasini. The hotel staffers detained the boy while he was trying to flee and handed him over to police.

Security personnel then rushed the girl to Lumbini Zonal Hospital from where she was referred to Bhairahawa.

“Preliminary investigation suggests they were in a relationship,” said SP Rabindra Dhanuk.

Koirala, who had returned from Dubai a month ago, claimed that he was in a relationship with the girl for the last four years. He has told investigating officials that he attacked her after she refused his marriage proposal.

“The boy had visited our home about three years ago asking for my daughter’s hand in marriage,” said Nirmala, the victim’s mother. “But my daughter refused.”

According to Nirmala, her daughter and the boy came to know each other a few years ago through Facebook.

“It seems they were in love earlier but their relationship had worsened of late,” said DSP Marasini. “It is a premeditated act as the suspect had brought acid along with him.” According to police, the victim’s aunt Meena Kharel, 40, who had accompanied her to Butwal, was staying in another room of the same hotel when the incident took place.

Incidents of acid attack earlier were often reported in India and Bangladesh in South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, the West Indies and the Middle East where it is a particular scourge. But two years ago, two school girls were attacked with acid in the heart of Kathmandu.

A boy had thrown acid on two girls at a coaching centre in Basantapur in February 2015. The 20-year-old boy was arrested a month later and sentenced to 10 years in prison in December.

The incident was first one in the country to put a spotlight on the crime of acid attack, following which the country has enacted a new law criminalising acid attacks on women .