Dec 16 gang rape case: 'Witness not robbed before incident'

One of the accused in the December 16 gang rape case on Thursday claimed before a Delhi court that he, along with other five co-accused, had not beaten or robbed the carpenter that night.

Ramadhar, a carpenter, was lured into the bus and robbed by six persons before they gang raped a 23-year-old girl in a moving bus.

Appearing as a prosecution witness, Ramadhar had identified the four accused present in the court as those who had robbed and assaulted him on the December 16 night.

However, accused Mukesh, who was recording his statement before Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna said Ramadhar had boarded the bus on his own but he was asked to get down from the vehicle after he refused to give the fare.

"It is correct that Ramadhar has boarded the bus on his own on December 16, 2012, evening from Sabji Mandi at Sector-4 of R K Puram in south Delhi.

"He deboarded the bus at IIT flyover. Accused Akshay asked to stop the bus as he was not paying the fare," Mukesh said adding the alleged victim was not thrown out of the bus.

However, the other accused Akshay Thakur said he was not present in the bus in which the girl was allegedly gang raped by the six accused persons, including him.

"It is wrong that I was present in the bus on December 16, 2012 night. I was not in Delhi as I had left for my village on December 15, 2012," Akshay told the judge, denying his involvement in the crime.

When told that he, along with co-accused, had dumped the girl on the road after committing the crime, Akshay said "as I was not present there, then how could I do it"?

On December 16, a female physiotherapy intern was beaten up and gang raped in a bus in which she was travelling with her male friend who was also brutally attacked with an iron rod.

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 had said.

The victim died of her injuries on December 29 last year while undergoing treatment in a SingaporeHospital.

During the trial, Ram Singh was found dead in Tihar jail on March 11 and court proceedings against him stand abated.

The sixth accused, a juvenile, faced an inquiry before the juvenile justice board.

Mukesh also said he is not aware why the carpenter has deposed against him.

He further told the judge that he was only driving the bus and was drunk on the night of the incident. Later, he pleaded the judge that he should be let off in the case as he is innocent.

During his deposition in the court, Mukesh also claimed the police had not arrested him from Rajasthan and he was picked from his house in Delhi.