Delhi gang-rape case: main accused Ram Singh commits suicide in Tihar Jail

New Delhi: Ram Singh, the key accused in the Delhi gang-rape case, has committed suicide inside the Tihar Jail premises where he was lodged.

Tihar Jail officials said Ram Singh hanged himself at Jail Number 3, at around 5 am this morning. His body has been taken to Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) Hospital in Delhi.

Ram Singh was the driver of the bus in which six men inflicted horrific assault on 23-year-old medical student in Delhi and was the main accused. Besides Ram Singh and his brother Mukesh, three other adult accused are facing trial in the case. The sixth accused is a minor and is being tried separately by the Juvenile Justice Board.

Authorities in the Tihar Central Jail had said that all the five accused are under "suicide watch" after they stopped interacting with other jail inmates and amongst themselves.

Ram Singh's lawyer, VK Anand, had petitioned the Supreme Court in January to shift the case as he believes his client will not receive a fair trial in Delhi. Mr Anand had sought that the trial be moved to anywhere else in the country except Uttar Pradesh, where the girl came from.

The men are accused of gang-raping and brutally assaulting Amanat (NOT her real name) on December 16 last year and then throwing her out of the bus. The incident sparked outrage in the country and people took to the streets to demand the most stringent punishment for the accused. The young woman fought a valiant battle for her life in hospital for 13 days, but her injuries were too severe and she died in a Singapore hospital on December 29.

All the accused were arrested within days of the horrific assault.