Footage shows Delhi gangrape accused not attacked

Almost two weeks after a December 16 gang rape accused claimed that he had been assaulted by Tihar inmates leading to a fractured hand, a fast-track court on Wednesday said no such incident could be seen in the CCTV footage provided by the jail authorities.

Almost two weeks after a December 16 gang rape accused claimed that he had been assaulted by Tihar inmates leading to a fractured hand, a fast-track court on Wednesday said no such incident could be seen in the CCTV footage provided by the jail authorities.

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“I have examined the CCTV footage provided by the jail superintendent of Tihar jail regarding the allegation of beating made by accused Vinay Sharma. No such alleged incident is seen in the CCTV footage,” additional sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna said.

The judge passed the order after viewing the CCTV footage provided by the superintendent of jail number 7, where Vinay is lodged at present. The accused had appeared before the court with a fractured hand on April 5 and pleaded that he should not be sent back to Tihar.

Vinay’s counsel A P Singh had then told the court that he was badly beaten up by other inmates.

The jail officials had, however, refuted the allegations that the accused was attacked in jail and claimed he was injured in a fight with one of the co-accused, Akshay Singh, in the police van while returning to prison from the court.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Wednesday turned down the plea of another gang rape accused to move the trial outside Delhi.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir, however, agreed to hear Mukesh’s plea to move him out of Tihar.

“We are issuing notice on the limited prayer of shifting him to another jail,” the court said.

Earlier, Mukesh had submitted before the Supreme Court that he was being tortured in jail and that fair trial was not possible in the Capital, so the trial should be shifted to another court outside Delhi.

Charged with murder and the gang rape of a paramedical student in a moving bus last year, Mukesh has claimed in his petition that he has been falsely implicated in the case.

There are five other accused in the case, including a juvenile. Besides Mukesh, the other accused Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Thakur too have been charged with similar offences including that of attempt to murder, kidnapping, unnatural offences, dacoity, hurting in committing robbery, destruction of evidence, criminal conspiracy and common intention under the IPC.

With inputs from PTI