Robbery case: accused claim innocence, says falsely implicated

Two of the four death row convicts in the December 16 gangrape case, who are also facing trial for allegedly robbing a carpenter on that day, claimed before a Delhi court today that they do not "know" about the incident and they had not beaten up or robbed him.
According to police, Ram Adhar, a carpenter, was lured into the bus and robbed by six persons including a juvenile, before they had gangraped a 23-year-old girl in a moving bus here. The gangrape victim died in a Singapore hospital on December 29, 2012.
The court had, meanwhile, abated charges against the main accused Ram Singh who was found dead in his cell in Tihar jail on March 11.

Appearing as a prosecution witness, Ramadhar in the court had identified the four accused --Akshay Thakur, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh --as those who had robbed and assaulted him on the December 16, 2012 night.
However, accused Pawan, who today recorded his statement before Additional Sessions Judge Daya Prakash, said he was not in the bus, in which the alleged incident had taken place and gone to a music function organised by the Church in the DDA district park in south Delhi along with co-accused Vinay.
"On December 16, 2012 at 8:30 PM, I along with Vinay and his family and friends went to a musical programme organised by a church....," Pawan said, adding he was picked from his fruit shop and forcibly taken to police station.

Pawan also claimed that when he was detained, he was a juvenile and the police had tortured him in illegal custody.
He further deposed that he saw the complainant, Ram Adhar for the first time at the police station.