Dec 16 gangrape: IO denies claims of accused

The investigating officer (IO) in the December 16 gangrape case today denied the claims of an accused that the site plan was prepared at the police station and not at the actual scene of crime.
The woman IO, who had initially probed the case, told Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna that the male friend of a 23-year-old girl had visted the spot and pointed out the place of occurrence.
"The site plans were prepared at the instance of the complainant (the victim's friend). He was physically present with me when the site plans were prepared at his pointing out.
"It is wrong to suggest that the youth had not visited the places or that the site plans were prepared not at his instance. It is wrong to suggest that site plans were prepared on the basis of the statements of the complainant while sitting in the police station," the IO said, during her cross-examination by the counsel accused Mukesh.

According to the police, on the night of the incident, a female physiotherapy intern was beaten and gangraped in a bus in which she was travelling with her friend.
Besides the two, there were six others in the bus, including the driver, Ram Singh, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh all of whom had raped the girl, it said.

The victim died of her injuries on December 29 last year while undergoing emergency treatment at a Singapore Hospital.
During the trial, Ram Singh, was found dead in Tihar jail in March and court proceedings against him stand abated.

The sixth accused, a juvenile, is facing the inquiry before the juvenile justice board here.