New Delhi, March 11 (IANS) The main accused in the Dec 16 gang-rape of a 23-year-old has committed suicide in Delhi's Tihar Jail Monday morning, police said.
According to a police official, Ram Singh, 33, the prime accused in the case committed suicide around 5.00 a.m. in ward no. 5 of Jail No.3 in Tihar jail.
"An inquiry has been ordered to ascertain how Ram Singh committed suicide in the high security Tihar Jail," G. Sudhakar, DIG (Prisons), Tihar Jail, said.
According to officials, a magisterial inquiry will be undertaken into the incident.
Sources said Ram Singh hanged himself by the grills of a window, using his own pyjama.
Singh had been charged in 13 cases in connection with the Dec 16 incident, and had been facing day-to-day trial in a fast-track court.
Police said he had already confessed to the crime.
The body was rushed to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, where doctors declared Singh dead.
Sources said Ram Singh was under suicide watch. He shared his cell with other inmates, but no one saw him hang himself.
"It was only at the time of daily attendance that it came to light that he was missing. There were others with him, but they did not see him hang himself," a source from Tihar jail said.
All five adults accused in the heinous gang-rape case were under suicide watch since January after they stopped interacting with other jail inmates and even between themselves.
The others accused in the case, Pawan, 19, and Akshay, 29, are held in Jail No. 4, Vinay, 20, and Mukesh, 26, are in Jail No. 7.
The sixth accused is a juvenile, lodged separately.
On Dec 16, 2012, a trainee physiotherapist was allegedly brutally gang-raped by Ram Singh and his five associates in a moving bus in the national capital.
The young student died of massive internal injuries in a Singapore hospital two weeks later.
