Uber rape victim's neck injuries suggest strangling attempt: Doctor

A woman doctor who conducted the medical examination of the executive allegedly raped by a Uber taxi driver told a court here Monday that scratch marks on the neck of victim appeared that she was strangulated.

Hindu Rao hospital's Dr Kaveri told Additional Sessions Judge Kaveri Baweja that she found scratch marks on the body of the victim including neck and waist during her medical examination.

Quizzed by the defence counsel of the accused during her cross examination about the nature of scratch marks on the victim's body, she opined: "..said scratch marks was suggested of strangulation."

Kaveri was testifying as a prosecution witness in the case with another doctor Jitender Nigotia, who has conducted medical examination of the accused cab driver Shiv Kumar Yadav.

Nigotia told court that there were multiple abrasion (scratch marks) found on Yadav's face when he was medically examined early morning of Dec 8.

He added that marks found appeared to him as two days old and could have be due to nails.

Yadav, 32, allegedly raped the woman in the cab she hired to head back home in north Delhi's Inderlok area Dec 5 night last year. The court last Tuesday framed charges under sections 376(2)(m) (while committing rape causing grievous bodily harm or endangering life of a woman), 366 (kidnapping or abducting woman), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code against Yadav. The trial is being conducted on a day-to-day basis.

Meanwhile the court also recorded the evidence of a policeman and two more witnesses including Yadav's friend who was also working as his senior in the same company and given his mobile phone and subscriber identification module (SIM) card to accused for his smooth functioning as a company driver.

The court will examine four other witnesses including three police personnel Tuesday.

In the over 100-page charge sheet, which was filed Dec 24 last year, police cited 44 prosecution witnesses in support of its case as well as relying on forensic evidence and a route map of the cab.