Dec 16 gangrape convict attempts suicide in Tihar jail

New Delhi, Aug 25 (PTI) On death row in the December 16gangrape case of a paramedical student, one of the convictsVinay Sharma allegedly tried to commit suicide in Tihar jaillast night but his attempt was foiled by vigilant guards, overthree years after the prime accused was found hanging in hiscell at the facility. Sharma has now been kept under round-the-clock observationfor 24 hours at the Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) hospital here. "He has been found fit and fine in the medicalexaminations but doctors have kept him under observation fornext 24 hours to watch his activities as a precautionarymeasure," said Pushpendra Kumar, DCP (west). Sharma tried to hang himself from an iron grille of hiscell using a thin towel (Gamchha) around 9.30 PM last nightinside jail number 8. He was caught in the act by Tamil NaduSpecial Police(TSP) personnel on duty who stopped him andinformed the jail authorities," said a senior Tihar official. Sharma also claimed to have consumed a heavy dose ofanti-depressants before trying to hang himself, jail sourcessaid. However, jail officials rubbished his claim. Immediately after he was found trying to hang himself, hewas taken to the jail dispensary where a doctor examined himand declared him medically fit, said the jail official. "However, as a precautionary measure, he was taken to DDUHospital. He even walked up to the ambulance which took him tothe hospital. At the hospital also doctors said he was fine.But he has been kept on 24 hour observation as furtherprecaution," he said. Sharma, one of the four death row convicts in the gangrapecase of a paramedical student, who was given pseudonym’Nirbhaya’ by many media organisations, had complained twiceabout being assaulted by jail inmates in 2015 and was underenhanced security. The doctors attending on Sharma said on the condition ofanonymity that he was fine but whether he had consumed a heavydose of anti-depressants could be verified after furthertests. Sharma’s father Hari Ram Sharma, who reached the DDUhospital after getting the news, told reporters that he hadmet his son about 15 days back and he did not show anysuicidal tendencies. "I had met him 15 days ago and found him in a normalcondition and there were no signs that he was going to doanything like that," he said. The 23-year-old victim was brutally assaulted and rapedby six persons in a moving bus in south Delhi on December 16,2012, triggering nation-wide shock and outrage. She was latershifted to a Singapore Hospital where she died. Four convicts – Akshay Thakur, Vinay Sharma, Mukesh Singhand Pawan Gupta were sentenced to death in the case. Prime accused Ram Singh was found dead in his cell inTihar Jail in March 2013 and proceedings against him weresubsequently abated. A juvenile accused in the case wasconvicted and sentenced to a maximum of three years in areformation home. He was released from there in December lastyear. PTI VIT/SLB SKSK