Delhi gangrape: victim’s friend says Mukesh, Vinay were present in bus

Refuting the claims by two of the six accused in the December 16 gangrape case, the victim’s male friend on Monday told the court that both Mukesh and Vinay Sharma were in the bus when the incident took place.

Refuting the claims by two of the six accused in the December 16 gang rape case, the victim’s male friend on Monday told the court that both Mukesh and Vinay Sharma were in the bus when the incident took place.

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During his cross-examination, the counsel for Mukesh contended before Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna that Sharma and Mukesh were not involved in the gang rape and had neither beaten the victim’s friend nor had they robbed them. Sharma had even claimed that he was not in the bus that night, but at a music function in south Delhi.

The victim’s friend, a 28-year-old software engineer, refuted their contentions and said he could identify the bus and the accused who were travelling in it that night.

“It is wrong to suggest that accused Mukesh was not sitting in the driver’s seat when I entered the bus. I had already identified the accused who was sitting in the driver’s seat upon entry in the bus. It is also wrong to suggest that the accused Vinay was not present in the bus at the time of the incident,” the victim’s friend said.

During the proceedings, the counsel also claimed that Mukesh had nothing do with the case and that he had been falsely implicated at the instance of Delhi Police and also because he was the brother of the main accused Ram Singh, who had committed suicide in his prison cell on March 11.