STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
New Delhi, 6 August
The prosecution in the 16 December gangrape case today alleged that the father of one of the accused is deposing falsely.
Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna, who resumed the trial in the case after a week-long gap, has recorded the statement of two defence witnesses on behalf of Akshay Thakur, who have corroborated with his plea of alibi.
Special Public Prosecutor Dayan Krishnan, however, during the cross-examination of Akshay’s father and the auto driver, said that both the defence witnesses are deposing falsely and are tutored.
The prosecution’s claim was, however, refuted by the accused father, who said, “On 16 December, 2012, at about 10 a.m, the accused along with his daughter-in-law and grand son had reached his village."
“It is wrong to suggest that I have concocted false story regarding presence of my son/ accused at my village on December 16, 2012 and also tutored other defence witness to depose at my behest in order to save my son Akshay… It is wrong to suggest that on the incident night, my son was in Delhi and was part of the group of persons, who had allegedly gangraped the girl,” claimed Akshay’s father, while denying the police’s claim that the youth was among the six persons who had gangraped a 23-year-old girl in a moving bus.
Appearing as defence witness, the auto driver claimed in the court that he picked Akshay from the railway station on 16 December last year morning to his village at Aurangabad in Bihar.
“It is wrong to suggest that since I myself and Akshay belong to the same village, so we have concocted a false story and deposing falsely with regard to presence of the accused in the village,” added the witness.
During the recording of his statement, Akshay had claimed that he was not in the bus in which the alleged gangrape took place.