One more accused has been arrested for the brutal torture and gang-rape of a 23-year-old girl in a moving bus here, taking the total of arrested people to four, the Delhi Police said Tuesday.
Vinay Sharma, a gym instructor, was arrested Tuesday morning. The other three accused - bus driver Ram Singh and his brother Mukesh and a fruit seller, Pawan Gupta alias Kalu - were arrested from Ravidas Camp slum in R.K. Puram area of south Delhi earlier. Ram Singh was arrested late Monday evening and the other two during the night.
Two more accused - Akshay Thakur and Raju - are still at large.
According to police, Ram Singh, and his helper Akshay Thakur alias Bihari had cooked chicken and had a small party along with his younger brother Mukesh, a driver-cum-cleaner, Sunday evening.
They then went out on a "joyride" and consumed liquor in the bus.
"The accused decided to go for a joy ride and have fun while picking some extra money by giving lifts to people so that more drinks could be brought. Vinay, Pawan and Raju, another cleaner-cum-helper, also joined them," said Neeraj Kumar, Delhi Police Commissioner.
Before reaching Munirka, the accused had picked up Ramadhar Singh from Sector 4 vegetable market in R.K. Puram at around 8.30 p.m. and dumped him at the Outer Ring Road after robbing him of his valuables.
"They reached Munirka bus stop and the bus conductor called out to collect passengers for Dwarka. It was then the couple boarded the bus at around 9.15 p.m.," said the Delhi Police chief.
The couple were charged Rs.20 as fare, said Neeraj Kumar, adding that as soon as the bus crossed Vasant Gaon and turned towards Mahipalpur, three of the accused, who were sitting in the driver's cabin, came towards the couple and started misbehaving with them.
"When the boy resisted, they started beating him with an iron rod due to which he suffered head, arm and leg injuries. Meanwhile, when the woman tried to save her friend, two of the accused restrained her and another dragged her to the rear of the bus and raped her brutally," said the officer.
The accused also hit the girl on her stomach with the iron rod after raping her, said a police officer. The accused then robbed the couple's valuables including their mobiles and stripped them.
According to the officer, the accused told the driver to speed up the bus and took the couple towards the rear gate in order to push them outside onto the road.
"But it did not open and they pushed the couple, who were in a semi-unconscious condition near Mahipalpur flyover on the NH-8, from the front gate."
"After the incident, the culprits fled and later dispersed. Raju, Mukesh and Akshay tried to destroy the evidence while Pawan and Vinay went back to their normal work. Ram Singh and Akshay took the bus to Noida in the early hours of Monday morning and thoroughly washed the vehicle to remove any evidence," said the officer.
But, later Monday, Ram Singh thought nothing would happen and he brought the bus back to R.K. Puram where he was arrested and the bus impounded, added the officer.
Police further said the victim's friend had noticed 'Yadav' written on the bus and this helped police in tracing it.
Having some more clues about the bus - that its colour was white and it had curtains and tinted glasses - police teams raided different areas in Noida, Gurgaon and Delhi with the details and description of the bus.
One of the police teams, while inspecting the route, noticed that a CCTV camera was installed at a hotel and during checking of the footage, the same bus was seen passing through at the same time as stated by the complainant.
The official said the alleged attackers have been identified on the basis of the CCTV footage of the bus and statement from the male friend who accompanied the unfortunate girl.
"Raids are being conducted in different areas of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Bihar to arrest the absconding accused," the officer said.