Night of shame continues……

However, the police team continued to interrogate Ram Singh even as the slogan shouting outside became deafening. DCP Chhaya had to come out to brief the media gathered outside and share some details of the investigation done thus far to assuage the rising tempers.

Much before SI Arvind reached Delhi with Mukesh on the afternoon of 18 December, Ram Singh had begun to sing like a canary. He disclosed that in the early evening of 16 December (a Sunday) Pawan Kumar, a fruit vendor, Vinay, a gym instructor, Mukesh, Ram Singh’s younger brother, Akshay Kumar Singh, a cleaner on Ram Singh’s bus, and Raju, a juvenile, met in his jhuggi and had a small ‘party’. They decided to set out together in Ram Singh’s bus to have some ‘fun’. They first lured Ram Adhar (aged thirty-five), a carpenter, to board the bus and robbed him of Rs 1500 along with his other belongings and dumped him near IIT Gate. They then drove towards Munirka from where they picked up the hapless couple.

Ram Singh then pointed out Pawan’s hutment in Guru Ravi Das Camp from where he was picked up at 1.15 p.m.

On 18 December. Vinay was arrested from outside his gym, again in Ram’s neighbourhood, at 6 p.m. the same day. The data from both Pawan’s and Vinay’s phones corroborated their presence along the route that the bus had taken. We had four of the six accused in our custody. It was time for us to let the world know of the breakthrough in the case and of the arrests we had made.

A press conference was called at police headquarters on the evening of 18 December. The anti-police stance of the media was palpable when I addressed the press to inform everyone how deftly the case had been worked out, that four accused had been arrested, and that the remaining two were likely to be arrested soon.

To be continued……