Dec 16 case: Accused intended to kill the victims, court told

The prosecution in the December 16 gangrape case today told a court here that the brutal assault meted out to the victim and her male friend by the alleged rapists was with a motive to "eliminate" them so that neither was left alive to narrate the horrific ordeal.

Special Public Prosecutor Dayan Krishnan in his submission before Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna said that the intestine of the 23-year-old paramedic was damaged with an iron rod, which left her bleeding profusely and finally resulted in her death.

"The victim's (girl) intestine was so damaged that it was impossible for her to survive. The system on which the human body works was completely destroyed by the accused persons by using blunt object (the rods).

"The injuries were done deliberately with an intention to eliminate the victims (the girl and her male friend), with a clear intention to murder them," the prosecution said during his final arguments in December 16 gangrape-cum-murder case.

Krishnan, said accused Ram Singh (since deceased), his brother Mukesh, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta and the juvenile, who has been tried by the Juvenile Justice Board, attacked the victim's male friend with a intention to kill him at the spot.

"There cannot be a clear case than this. They wanted to kill both the victim and her friend by trying to run the bus over them. The accused had the clear intention to eliminate them so that there will be no victim to tell the story of the December 16 horrific night," he submitted.

"There was no doubt in any mind of the accused that they wanted the victim to keep alive. The intention of the accused was also to eliminate the complainant (girl's male friend)," he added.

According to the prosecution, Ram Singh, Vinay, Akshay, Pawan, Mukesh and also the juvenile had allegedly gangraped the girl in a moving bus after luring her and her 28-year-old male friend who was also assaulted.

The victim's friend, a software engineer, had fractured his limbs during the scuffle. The girl succumbed to her injuries on December 29, 2012 while undergoing treatment in 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 held guilty by JJB of robbing the carpenter while the verdict in the gangrape case is likely to be pronounced on August 31.

Krishnan in his submission also said that the girl and her friend were dragged with their hair from the back of the bus to the front and were thrown out of the moving vehicle.
"Later they tried to crush them under the wheels, but it was their fate which kept them alive. The modus operandi of the accused shows their conduct, that they were on roads to satisfy their lust," the prosecution said.

Relying on the testimony of the youth and the three dying declaration given by the victim, Krishnan said "the statements themselves speaks of commission of injuries by the six and rape by all of them".

Explaining the scene after the crime, Krishnan told the court that there is clear evidence to prove that the accused in pursuance of their plan had distributed the looted articles among themselves, which was recovered from their possessions during the probe.
He also said that there is electronic and medical evidence to establish that each one of them was present in the bus and had committed the crime.

"The entire sequence of facts reflects criminal conspiracy hatched by each of the accused, as they reside in the same locality and knew each other prior to the incident.

"Ram Singh and Akshay Thakur were in possession of the bus, being its staff," Krishnan said, adding that there is no doubt on their being in the bus.