Paradip: Jagatsinghpur police in Odisha on Sunday arrested two persons, including an army jawan, and claimed to have cracked an eight-year-old case of acid attack.

When the news reached the survivor, who had suffered severe burns and had lost her both eyes, she said she was happy.

The main accused, Sanjay Kumar Bedanta, 36, posted as an army jawan at Kupwada district in Jammu and Kashmir, was arrested along with the co-accused Biswajit Dalsinghray. While Bedanta was arrested from Calcutta, Dalsinghray was rounded up from his native Champagada village in Nayagarh district, said Jagatsinghpur police superintendent Jai Narayan Pankaj.

The two had attacked the survivor with concentrated nitric acid on May 4, 2009.

The girl was pursuing Plus Two Arts at Tirtol College at that time.

The principal had accused Bedanta of being infatuated towards the girl when he was on election duty at Tirtol in 2009. The girl had turned down his advances. Distraught and dejected, Bedanta hatched the plan to teach her a lesson. Assisted by his old acquaintance Dalsinghray, he threw acid on the girl. The two had procured the acid from a nearby jewellery shop, the police had said.

Police said Dalsinghray rode a motorcycle while Bedanta, a native of Joragadia village in Bhadrak district, rode pillion to execute the crime.

The case had been closed then because the survivor had failed to throw much light on the accused persons. However, she had accused Bedanta and said he had been infatuated with her. The army camp had left the place when the incident had occurred.

"We got feedback on the crime from a source and traced the whereabouts of Bedanta. The army, Jammu and Kashmir police and Calcutta police extended co-operation, which helped us to nab him. It was a near-blind case. It could be cracked due to some great teamwork by a special squad constituted for the purpose," said Pankaj.

The motorcycle that had been used for the crime has been seized. Both the accused persons, who have been booked under Indian Penal Code sections 328, 307, 506 and 34, have confessed to the crime. They will be forwarded to court on Monday. Police will seek five-day remand for further interrogation of the accused.

After hearing the news of arrest, the survivor said: "I have undergone a traumatic ordeal and it still continues. I pray to God and hope no one suffers like me. The accused should be given exemplary punishment," she said.