The Delhi Police on Friday filed a charge sheet indicting the five men and the juvenile accused in the December 16 gang-rape case for a robbery they committed just before the 23-year-old physiotherapy student and her friend had boarded the bus. The charge sheet alleges that the six persons had robbed Ram Adhar, a carpenter by profession, of Rs.1,500 and his mobile phone on December 16.
Metropolitan Magistrate Akash Jain took cognisance of the charge sheet and fixed the matter for March 28 for scrutiny of documents attached with the charge sheet. The charges on which the court has taken cognisance are sections 365 (kidnapping), 342 (wrongful confinement), 395 (assault during robbery), 412 (dishonestly receiving stolen property), and 34 (acts done in furtherance of common intent) of the Indian Penal Code.
Though the juvenile, who was allegedly acting as the bus conductor, has also been named in this case, a separate charge sheet has already been filed against him before the Juvenile Justice Board.
The police, in its charge sheet, have said that Ram Adhar was working in a furniture shop in Munirka in South Delhi and while he was returning home to Sangam Vihar at around 8-45 p.m. on December 16, he was allegedly picked up by the accused in the bus from Munirka bus stand, then robbed and thrown out of the vehicle at IIT Flyover.
The charge sheet alleges that the juvenile lured Ram Adhar into the bus, saying it was going towards Nehru Place, after which Ram Singh and Akshay Singh took him to the rear of the bus where Vinay Sharma and Pawan Gupta assaulted him and took away Rs.1,500.
The juvenile is alleged to have snatched Ram Adhar’s mobile phone after which he threw Ram Adhar out of the bus at IIT Flyover.
The other accused, Mukesh, was driving the bus. The charge sheet alleges that the accused proceeded to Ram Singh’s house where they had a party and tried to pick up and rob more people but Ram Adhar was the only one who boarded their bus.
Ram Adhar purportedly told the probe team that he had lodged an FIR on December 18 last after coming to know about the brutal gang-rape in the same bus in which he was robbed.
The charge sheet lists 30 prosecution witnesses.
