Rape victim still critical, hunt on for 2 suspects

While Delhi Police are conducting raids at possible hideouts in Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan to nab the remaining two suspects in the brutal gang-rape case, the victim’s condition continued to remain critical at Safdarjung Hospital on Thursday. The 23-year-old is conscious, alert and communicating through gestures. The doctors indicated that there is a danger of infection spreading in her body.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said “if there is a need to send her abroad to treat and save her life, we will not hesitate”.

The Delhi Police have deputed a woman assistant commissioner of police on Thursday to engage with her family members at the hospital round-the-clock and have intensified their search for two suspects — Raju and Akshay Thakur — at possible hideouts in various states.

Police had arrested four accused – Ram Singh, Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta, and Vinay Sharma – within 12 hours of the incident.

The victim’s friend, an engineer in a software company and a civil services aspirant, identified Mukesh Singh, one of the suspects, during the identification parade at Tihar jail on Thursday. Mukesh Singh had beaten up the male friend and the victim when they resisted misbehaviour in the bus before she was tortured and raped by four other men.

During interrogation, the police said that they, particularly Ram Singh, were ‘remorseless and showed no sign of regret for the horrendous crime’. The police officials said, “Though he has no previous history, he is a remorseless psychopath.”

He, along with five other co-accused — Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta, Akshay Thakur, Vinay Sharma and Raju – had gone  on a joy ride. But it was on Ram Singh’s insistence that the victim was beaten, gang-raped and tortured.

Delhi also witnessed angry protests as hundreds of people gathered at India Gate and Safdarjung Hospital for the third successive day.