Dec 16 gangrape convict refused to undergo TIP: MM tells court

A magistrate today told a Delhi court that Akshay Thakur, one of the four death row convicts in the December 16 gangrape and murder case, had refused to participate in test identification parade despite being warned that it would go against him during the trial.
Deposing as a prosecution witness in a separate case lodged against the convicts for allegedly robbing a carpenter in the moving bus before they gangraped and brutally assaulted a 23-year-old student, Metropolitan Magistrate Amitabh Rawat said that an application for conducting TIP of Akshay was moved by the police before him.
"He (Akshay) refused to participate in TIP. He was warned that his refusal may go against him during the trial, still he stated that he does not want to participate in TIP," the magistrate told Additional Sessions Judge Daya Prakash.

During the cross examination, Rawat denied the suggestions of defence counsel that Akshay had stated that his photograph was taken by Superintendent of Police (SP) of Aurangabad in Bihar from where he was arrested in connection with the case.
"It is incorrect to suggest that Akshay disclosed that complainant had seen him in police station," he said.
During the proceedings, the court also concluded recording of statement of fingerprint expert A D Shah, a prosecution witness in the case.

Shah told the court that he had prepared the report on specimens of fingerprints and palm prints of the victim, complainant as well as the accused persons, which were lifted from the bus.

He said the specimen samples were lifted from the bus by experts and he had prepared the report after conducting its examination.
Shah denied the suggestions of the defence counsel that the purpose of the forensic experts to visit the bus stationed at Thyaga Raj stadium here was to create "false evidence".
Besides Akshay, Vinay Sharma, Mukesh and Pawan Gupta, who all were awarded death penalty on September 13 by a special fast track court here in the gangrape and murder case, are facing trial in the robbery case.
They are accused of luring a carpenter, Ram Adhar, into the bus and robbing him before raping and assaulting the girl in a moving bus in south Delhi on December 16 last year. The girl had died in a Singapore hospital on December 2.