Dec 16 gangrape case: Cop identifies three accused

A woman police officer and a prime witness, who had arrested the Dec 16, 2012 gang-rape accused, Friday identified three of them in a fast-track court.

The investigating officer (IO), the last prosecution witness in the case, identified Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh Singh, whom she had arrested within hours after the crime.

She told Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna that Ram Singh, who was found hanging in his cell in Tihar Jail, was the first to be arrested. He tried to run away from the bus but was overpowered by the police team, she added. The trial against him has been abated following his death.

Another accused in the case, Akshay Thakur, was arrested from Aurangabad in Bihar.

"As we reached the bus, a man got down from the bus and tried to run away. He was apprehended by us (the IO and her team). He said his name was Ram Singh," the officer said.

On being asked by the prosecutor whether the accused were present in the courtroom, she said: "All the accused are present in the courtroom except Ram Singh (since deceased) and a juvenile facing trial before the Juvenile Justice Board."

The IO added that Ram Singh had himself pointed towards the bus by saying that it was the vehicle in which the offence was committed.

In her statement, she said that at the instance of the accused, she seized the rods used by the six accused for brutally assaulting the victim and her friend on the night of the incident.

The victim and her friend were later thrown on the road.

On Ram Singh's disclosure Vinay, Pawan and Mukesh were arrested who have also accepted their offence during the interrogation, she further deposed in court.

Vinay, who was admitted in a hospital here since May 4 after he complained of high fever, sore throat and mouth ulcers, was presented before the court Friday and attended the proceedings. He was later taken back to hospital.

The 23-year-old woman was brutally tortured and gang-raped in the bus by five men and a juvenile. She died Dec 26.