Named after conspiracy with cops: Dec 16 gang rape accused

One of the accused in the December 16 gang rape case on Monday told a court here that the male friend of the 23-year-old victim had taken the names of the alleged offenders after conspiring with Delhi police.

The counsel for Pawan Gupta, in his final arguments before Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna, said the victim's friend, for the first time in his deposition in the court, had falsely assigned roles to each of the five adult accused.

"The prosecution has conspired to hatch an unsuccessful conspiracy to somehow bring in the ingredents of conspiracy in the deposition of PW 1 (the victim's male friend).

"For the first time, in his deposition before the court, the complainant(victim's male friend) had assigned individuals roles to the accused persons," Vivek Sharma and Sadashiv Gupta, counsel for Pawan, said in their arguments.

The counsel said the victim and her friend's statements were recorded several times just to complete the chain of the event "created" by the police.

They told the judge that the court should be cautioned of the contents of the girl's dying declaration, which is alleged to be the victim's original statement, and apply its own mind while passing any order against the accused as new facts were created at a later stage.

"If the prosecution story is believed to be correct, even then the intention of each accused is different from other. But police have tried to show the common intention of each accused.

"The prosecution tutored the complainant to improve his statement in deposition before the court," they claimed. According to the prosecution, Ram Singh, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur, Pawan, Mukesh and the juvenile, who was tried by the juvenile justice board, had allegedly gangraped the girl in a bus after luring her and her 28-year-old male friend, who was also assaulted, on board.

The victim's friend, a software engineer, had fractured his limbs in the incident. The girl succumbed to her injuries on December 29 last year while undergoing treatment at a Singapore hospital.

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, has been sentenced to three years by JJB which had convicted him of gangrape and murder of the paramedic.

Pawan's counsel, who concluded his arguments, said there was no meeting of minds at any point before, during or after commission of the alleged crime.

"Therefore, ingredients of conspiracy are not made out. It can be reflected from the statement of the victims also," they said. They further claimed the prosecution witnesses were tutored and while deposing in the court they have improved their earlier versions by adding some facts, which contradicts their own statement given to the police.

The counsel also pointed out that the allegation of turning the bus in order to run over the victim was false as such facts were not mentioned in their earlier statements. The counsel also rest its arguments on the contradiction of timings.

"The victims were shown present at the mall at about 8:57 pm on the incident night. But, as per the prosecution, the two had boarded the bus at 8:30 pm from Munirka in south  Delhi and were thrown out of the moving vehicle at 9 pm," the counsel said, adding the alleged act committed by the accused must have taken some time.

Concluding the arguments on behalf of Pawan, the counsel said their client was not present in the bus and his presence on mere DNA report does not "hold good".

"No finger prints were lifted or found on the alleged weapons (iron rod) used by the accused," they said.