NEW DELHI: Delhi police today rejected before a special court the defense of two of the four accused in the December 16 gangrape case that they were not in the bus and were present at a music function.
Special Public Prosecutor Dayan Krishnan submitted a letter from the concerned department to establish before Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna that accused Vinay Sharma and Pawan Gupta were not at the music function, as claimed by them, but were in the bus in which a 23-year-old girl was gangraped and brutally assaulted by six accused.
During the cross-examination of the two defense witnesses produced by Vinay, the prosecution alleged that they have concocted a false story at the behest of the accused and his family members as they are his friends and were deposing falsely in the case.
“There was no musical program organized on December 16, 2012 in the evening time in the district park (south Delhi).
The DDA/horticulture department does not allow such program in the park and no one is allowed to enter the park after 7:00 pm in the evening,” the prosecution said, which was refuted by the witnesses saying their suggestion is absolutely wrong.
Vinay’s friends appearing as witnesses told the judge that he and Pawan were also present at the music function on the incident night from 8:00 pm to 11:00 pm, of which they have also made a video in the accused’ mobile phone.
This statement is similar to that given by Vinay earlier in his deposition in which he had said that he was at the district park with his family to attend a music function and was not in the bus in which the heinous crime was committed.
The police has also submitted to the court the letter written by the Secretary of Ebenezer Assembly, R K Puram and by St.Thomas Church, who has also stated that they had not conducted any musical function program on December 16, 2012.
Advocate A P Singh, defending Vinay and Akshay Thakur in the case, sought court’s permission to submit the CD of the video clip, to establish the claim that the two accused were at the music program and not in the bus.
The request was, however, opposed by Krishnan saying the counsel should produce the primary piece of evidence as the CD is secondary evidence which may be easily tampered with.
Refuting the prosecution contention, Singh submitted that he has not brought the mobile, as he had as extra copy of the CD.
Krishnan contended that the mobile phone was not brought deliberately and there exists a possibility of manipulation of the date and time.
The court, however, directed Vinay’s counsel to submit the mobile in question by tomorrow.
Vinay’s parents had also claimed in the court that their son was innocent and should be acquitted.
They had refuted the police allegation that Vinay was one of the six who had also raped the girl and assaulted her male friend with an iron rod.
The prosecution has claimed that Vinay was in the company of accused Ram Singh, Mukesh, Akshay, Pawan and the juvenile.
The police told the court that Vinay and others first lured a carpenter into the bus on December 16, 2012 night and robbed him and later pushed him out of the moving vehicle.
The police also said that later they induced the girl and her friend to board the bus. -PTI