Accused robbed a man before picking up victim; 4 held so far

Those absconding have been identified as Akshay Thakur, a resident of Aurangabad, Bihar, and Raju. Both work as cleaners.

Seeking Ram Singh's custody, the police said they needed him to help catch "two or three remaining accused". They will also ask him to identify the clothes he was wearing at the time of the alleged assault. Singh refused to undergo a test identification parade on Tuesday.

The woman was raped and tortured with an iron rod and blades while her 28-year-old engineer friend who works for HCL was beaten and stripped, before both were thrown off the chartered bus on NH-8 near south Delhi on Sunday night.

Just prior to the incident, the accused allegedly robbed a carpenter identified as Ram Aadhar, whom they had offered a lift from the R K Puram Subzi Mandi. They dropped him off at the IIT-Delhi gate at around 8:30 pm after which they reached Munirka and picked up the couple.

After allegedly throwing the couple off the bus, Ram Singh and Vinay Sharma dropped the other accused at R K Puram before taking the bus to the owner's place in Noida. There, the police said, Singh washed the bus in an attempt to destroy evidence. The next morning, he reportedly returned to R K Puram, while his accomplices went about their daily routine. He then set out for Noida to get the bus for duty. Police said when they tracked the call locations of the accused, their presence in Noida was confirmed.

In the meantime, the Delhi Police had managed to track the owner of the bus, Dinesh Yadav. They checked 370 similar buses before narrowing down their search to Yadav Travels, a Noida-based company which owns close to 49 buses, most of which are supplied to schools.

The victim's friend apparently gave enough clues to help locate the bus, including that it had yellow curtains, red seats, had Yadav written on the side and was a luxury bus. The police asked Yadav to call Singh. As soon as Singh arrived at R K Puram with the bus, the Delhi Police apprehended him. The rest were identified on Singh's interrogation.

... contd.

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