Delhi gangrape: Court concludes recording statements of accused

New Delhi: A Delhi court trying the 16 December gangrape case today concluded recording of statements of all the accused, who countered the charges framed against them by it. The last accused to complete his statement was Pawan Gupta, a fruit vendor, who claimed before Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna that he was in an inebriated state on the day of the incident and was not in the bus in which the 23-year-old girl was gangraped allegedly by six persons including a minor. [caption id=“attachment_960447” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Image for representation only. AFP[/caption] To the question put to Pawan by the judge that there is evidence that he was present in the bus, he said that on 16 December, 2012, he left his fruit shop early and consumed liquor at his home. Later in the evening he had accompanied accused Vinay Sharma to a music function in south Delhi. “After reaching the function, I consumed more liquor. I became unconscious, so I lied down on the bench there. When I woke up, I found myself at home. “My father told me that I was brought home by him (father) and my uncle,” he told the judge, adding that how could he be present in the bus then. As per the police, on 16 December, a female physiotherapy intern was beaten up and gangraped in a bus in which she was travelling with her male friend who was also brutally attacked with an iron rod. There were six persons in the bus including driver Ram Singh, Vinay Sharma, Akshay, Pawan 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 Singapore Hospital. During the trial, Ram Singh was found dead in Tihar jail on 11 March and court proceedings against him stand abated. The sixth accused, a juvenile, faced an inquiry before the juvenile justice board here. Pawan in his statement also said that though his school name is Pawan, but he was know by the name ‘Kallu’ in his society at Ravi Das camp in south Delhi. He told the court that during his police remand, he was not taken to any place for recovery of evidence in the case at his instance. When the court noted that Mukesh had stated that he was driving the bus and Pawan along with other four co-accused had gangraped the girl, Pawan claimed that he did not have good relation with Mukesh so he him implicated him at the behest of the police. He also denied allegation of the police that he along with other five co-accused had robbed and beaten up Ramadhar, a carpenter, who was lured into the bus before the girl was picked up and brutally assaulted. Appearing as a prosecution witness, the carpenter had identified the four accused, present in the court, as those who had robbed and assaulted him on the night of the incident. The court, however, today concluded recording of statement of the accused and has now asked the counsel for Mukesh, Pawan, Akshay and Vinay to submit list of defence witness in the case. “List of witness be filed by tomorrow, explaining the role of the witnesses and their relevance in relation to the case,” the judge said. All the four accused, while recording their statement before the court, had claimed innocence. PTI