A city court has fixed May 16 for recording the statements of defence witnesses in a robbery case allegedly involving the four death row convicts of the December 16 gang-rape case. Additional Sessions Judge Daya Prakash, who was scheduled to commence the recording of statements of defence witnesses on Friday, fixed it for May 16 as the witness did not turn up for the deposition.
According to police, carpenter Ram Adhar was lured into the bus and robbed by six persons, including a juvenile, before they had gang-raped a 23-year-old medic in a moving bus here. The gang-rape victim died in a Singapore hospital on December 29, 2012. The court had, meanwhile, abated the charges against main accused Ram Singh who was found hanging in his cell in Tihar Jail on March 11. The four accused, Akshay Thakur, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh, had earlier claimed before the court that they had not robbed or assaulted the complainant. Ram Adhar had identified in the court the four accused as those who had robbed and assaulted him on the night of December 16, 2012. During the trial, the court has recorded the statements of 37 prosecution witnesses, including the carpenter. The court has put them on trial for the offences under various Sections of IPC, including Sections 395 (dacoity) and 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent and wrongfully to confine a person). The police, in their 15-page chargesheet filed on March 15 last year in the robbery case, alleged bus driver Ram Singh, his brother Mukesh, Vinay, Pawan and Akshay, along with the juvenile, had snatched 35-year-old carpenter Ram Adhar’s mobile phone and Rs 1,500 after luring him into the bus.