Trial in robbery against gang rape accused to start

An order to start the trial in a robbery case involving five accused in the December 16 gang rape will be passed by a court here on April 10.

Metropolitan magistrate Akash Jain on Thursday posted the matter for committing it to a sessions court as the offences under which the accused have been chargesheeted are exclusively “triable” by a sessions judge.

The six persons, including Ram Singh who committed suicide in Tihar jail and the juvenile whose trial has been separated, had allegedly beaten and robbed a carpenter before raping and assaulting a student in the moving bus on December 16 last year.

During closed-door proceedings, Jain asked police to provide the documents, filed along with the chargesheet, to the advocates appearing for all the accused, court sources said.

The court had earlier taken cognisance of the chargesheet filed by police on March 15 in the robbery case against the five accused. Police, in its 15-page chargesheet, had given details about how 35-year-old carpenter Ram Adhar was allegedly robbed by the accused in the bus on December 16 and later thrown out.

According to police, the five accused — bus driver Ram Singh, his brother Mukesh, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta and Akshay Singh, with a juvenile, had snatched Adhar’s mobile phone and Rs 1,500 after luring him into the bus.