Convict in Dec 16 gangrape case attempts suicide in Tihar jail

New Delhi, August 25

Vinay Sharma, one of the four death row convicts in the sensational December 16 gangrape case of a paramedic, allegedly tried to commit suicide in Tihar Jail, prison officials said on Thursday.

Sharma tried to hang himself from an iron grille of his cell using a cloth at around 9.30pm on Wednesday night. He was caught in the act by a Tamil Nadu special police personnel on duty who stopped him.

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He was later taken to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital where his condition is stated to be stable.

Sharma had consumed a heavy dose of anti-depressants before trying to commit suicide, according to jail sources.

Sharma was suffering from depression and was on medication, the sources said.

A 23-year-old paramedic was brutally assaulted and gangraped by six persons in a moving bus in south Delhi on December 16, 2012. She later died in a Singapore Hospital.

Four convicts — Akshay Thakur, Vinay Sharma, Mukesh Singh and Pawan Gupta were sentenced to death in the case.

Prime accused Ram Singh was found dead in his cell in Tihar Jail in March 2013 and proceedings against him were subsequently abated.

The juvenile accused in the case was convicted and sentenced to a maximum of three years in a reformation home.

He was released from the observation home in December last year. — PTI