Dec 16 gangrape: Cops want bus owner as witness

New Delhi, July 2 (IANS) Delhi Police Tuesday urged a special court here hearing the Dec 16, 2012, gangrape case to call as witness the owner of the bus in which the 23-year-old woman was brutalised.

Filing an application before Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna, police sought to call as witness Dinesh Yadav, owner of the bus.

Special Public Prosecutor Dayan Krishnan also sought the court’s permission to call Ramadhar, a carpenter, who was allegedly robbed by the accused after they lured him into the bus.

The application said: “On review of the evidence, it is submitted that Dinesh Yadav…, the owner of the bus and the employer of accused Ram Singh (since deceased), as well as Ramadhar who is not a cited witness but is a complainant…, and a purported victim of the same accused, are required to be summoned.”

Not summoning them may be perceived as being unfair to the accused, the application said.

Counsel appearing for accused Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh — who are facing trial for the gangrape and murder of the woman, besides various other sections under the Indian Penal Code – opposed the prosecution’s move.

During the day’s proceedings, the court recorded the statement of a woman investigating officer who had initially probed the case. The cross examination of the officer will continue Wednesday.

The case relates to a 23-year-old woman who was brutally tortured and gangraped in a moving bus by five men and a juvenile, after she boarded the vehicle with her male friend.

The juvenile is facing proceedings before a Juvenile Justice Board, while the four other accused were put up for trial in the fast-track court. One of the accused allegedly committed suicide in jail.

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