Police books Delhi gangrape convict Vinay Sharma for attempting suicide

New Delhi: Death row convict in the 16 December gangrape case, Vinay Sharma who had allegedly tried to commit suicide in Tihar jail, has been booked by the police for the offence even as he was shifted back to the prison from DDU hospital on Friday. Police said that a case of attempt to suicide has been registered at Hari Nagar police station against Sharma on a complaint by a Tihar jail official. [caption id=“attachment_2978572” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Delhi police. AFP[/caption] “A case has been registered under Section 309 (attempt to suicide) of IPC against the accused Vinay Sharma on a complaint by a Tihar official,” said a senior police officer. Sharma was shifted to the prison from DDU Hospital where he was kept under observation after he tried to hang himself in jail number 8 of Tihar on the night of 23 August. His security arrangements have been further beefed up and he has been provided counselling at the jail. He will be kept under a 24-hour observation by the jail authorities. “Sharma was shifted from DDU Hospital to jail around 5.30 pm and he has now been shifted from his previous high-security ward to a special security ward. Tamil Nadu Special Police personnel will watch him round-the-clock so that no untoward incident occurs in future,” said a senior Tihar official. A jail counseller interacted with him after his return from the hospital and he admitted that he was “depressed due to his conviction and death sentence”, the official added. Meanwhile, Sharma’s lawyer AP Singh representing him in the gangrape case in the Supreme Court, circulated a letter to the media alleging that his client was “poisoned” inside the jail and sought his shifting to another prison. Sharma, one of the four death row convicts in the December 16 gangrape case, allegedly tried to commit suicide in Tihar jail but his attempt was foiled by vigilant guards. As per jail sources, he had also claimed to have consumed a heavy dose of anti-depressants in his suicide bid, a charge rubbished by jail officials. The 23-year-old victim was brutally assaulted and raped by six persons in a moving bus in south Delhi on 16 December, 2012, triggering nation-wide shock and outrage. She was later shifted to a Singapore Hospital where she died. Four convicts - Akshay Thakur, Vinay Sharma, Mukesh Singh and Pawan Gupta – were sentenced to death in the case. Prime accused Ram Singh was found dead in his Tihar jail cell in March 2013 and proceedings against him were subsequently abated. A juvenile accused in the case was convicted and sentenced to a maximum of three years in a reformation home. He was released from there in December last year.