Dec 16 gangrape convict attempts suicide in Tihar jail

On death row in the December 16 gangrape case of a paramedical student, one of the convicts Vinay Sharma allegedly tried to commit suicide in Tihar jail last night but his attempt was foiled by vigilant guards, over three years after the prime accused was found hanging in his cell at the facility.

Sharma has now been kept under round-the-clock observation for 24 hours at the Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) hospital here.

"He has been found fit and fine in the medical examinations but doctors have kept him under observation for next 24 hours to watch his activities as a precautionary measure," said Pushpendra Kumar, DCP (west).

Sharma tried to hang himself from an iron grille of his cell using a thin towel (Gamchha) around 9.30 PM last night inside jail number 8. He was caught in the act by Tamil Nadu Special Police(TSP) personnel on duty who stopped him and informed the jail authorities," said a senior Tihar official.

Sharma also claimed to have consumed a heavy dose of anti-depressants before trying to hang himself, jail sources said. However, jail officials rubbished his claim.
Immediately after he was found trying to hang himself, he was taken to the jail dispensary where a doctor examined him and declared him medically fit, said the jail official.

"However, as a precautionary measure, he was taken to DDU Hospital. He even walked up to the ambulance which took him to the hospital. At the hospital also doctors said he was fine. But he has been kept on 24 hour observation as further precaution," he said.

Sharma, one of the four death row convicts in the gangrape case of a paramedical student, who was given pseudonym 'Nirbhaya' by many media organisations, had complained twice about being assaulted by jail inmates in 2015 and was under enhanced security.

The doctors attending on Sharma said on the condition of anonymity that he was fine but whether he had consumed a heavy dose of anti-depressants could be verified after further tests.

Sharma's father Hari Ram Sharma, who reached the DDU hospital after getting the news, told reporters that he had met his son about 15 days back and he did not show any suicidal tendencies.

"I had met him 15 days ago and found him in a normal condition and there were no signs that he was going to do anything like that," he said.

The 23-year-old victim was brutally assaulted and raped by six persons in a moving bus in south Delhi on December 16, 2012, triggering nation-wide shock and outrage. She was later shifted to a Singapore Hospital where she died.

Four convicts - Akshay Thakur, Vinay Sharma, Mukesh Singh and Pawan Gupta were sentenced to death in the case.

Prime accused Ram Singh was found dead in his cell in Tihar Jail in March 2013 and proceedings against him were subsequently abated. A juvenile accused in the case was convicted and sentenced to a maximum of three years in a reformation home. He was released from there in December last year.