Teen among two arrested, all six in net

Police claim juvenile was first to target woman in bus, told others to use blades.

A 17-year-old was among two persons arrested on Friday for the torture and gangrape of a 23-year-old woman on board a moving bus in south Delhi last Sunday. All six accused in the case are now in the police net.

The juvenile was arrested from Anand Vihar in East Delhi, police said. Age determination tests will be conducted though police have been told that he was 14 years old when he ran away from home in Badayun in UP three years ago.

The other person to be arrested was Akshay Thakur, a bus cleaner who had been on the run. He was arrested from Lahang Karma, 45 km from the Aurangabad district headquarters in Bihar. The arrest comes two days after police questioned his father and brother on his whereabouts.

Police sources claimed the teenaged boy was the first to target the woman and her friend, a 28-year-old software engineer, soon after they boarded the bus. Police sources said he passed a "lewd comment" and asked her friend why was he out with a woman so late in the night.

The engineer reacted and slapped the boy who slapped him back, police said. Sources said the boy encouraged the others to assault the woman and her friend. Police said the boy tortured and raped the woman along with Ram Singh, the first to be arrested in the case, and Akshay Thakur.

According to police, it was the boy who suggested the use of blades and rods to torture the woman after she bit Ram Singh as she fought back.

Police sources said the boy had been sleeping in buses or on footpaths since the incident. He had been travelling between Rajasthan, UP and Delhi.

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