The owner of the contract carriage bus, aboard which the 23-year-old physiotherapy student was brutally assaulted and gang-raped in South Delhi on December 16, has been booked for submitting false information to the State Transport Department to obtain a registration certificate and permit for the vehicle. The role of Transport Department employees is also being probed.
Investigations revealed that this bus, and 10 others, were registered in the name of Dinesh Yadav, who, according to Transport Department records, was a resident of Kamalpur at Burari in North Delhi. However, the police found that Dinesh, who lives in neighbouring Noida, had submitted false information at the time of registration at the Civil Lines office of the Transport Department.
“The accused had given the false address proof using a passbook issued from the Bank of Baroda and a driving licence. According to the owner of the Burari property, Dinesh never resided at that address,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (North Delhi) Sindhu Pillai. The police have recorded the property owner’s statement, which establishes that Dinesh filed a false affidavit claiming to be a Kamalpur resident.
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Based on the details obtained from the Transport Department and the enquiry report of the investigating officer in the gang rape case, a case has been registered against the bus owner at the Civil Lines station. As bus permits were granted to the applicant without verification, the complicity of certain Transport staff could not be ruled out, the police said.