NEW DELHI: Two days after a 23-year-old paramedical student was gang-raped and brutally assaulted in a moving bus, Delhi Policeon Tuesday claimed to have solved the case with the arrest of four people and said it will seek a fast-track trial for speedy punishment.

The condition of the victim continued to be critical but "better than yesterday's", doctors said.

Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar told a press conference that the driver of the chartered bus, which was not legally permitted to run on normal routes, his brother and two more people have been arrested, while a massive manhunthas been launched to nab the remaining two accused.

Ram Singh, the driver of the bus, his brother Mukesh, Vinay Sharma, an assistant gym instructor and Pawan Gupta, a fruit seller, were on a "joy ride" on Sunday night when they crossed Munirka bus stop where the paramedic student and her male friend were waiting for a bus to Dwarka.

"Ram Singh shouted that the bus was going to Dwarka and asked the couple to get into it. Once the bus started moving, they started misbehaving with the girl. Her male friend who, protested and tried to save the girl, was severely beaten up. The girl also tried hard to protect him," Kumar said.

But she was raped by Singh and other occupants of the vehicle which was being driven by Mukesh at the time of the incident. The duo were then brutally assaulted and dumped near Mahipalpur flyover, he said.

Kumar said Delhi Police will seek a fast-track trial for this case on a day-to-day basis so that the accused are punished as soon as possible.

To a question, he said the maximum punishment for this crime was life sentence, but as far as the demands for death sentence for such crimes are concerned the Delhi Police will send a proposal in this regard to the government.

The police is also likely to slap attempt to murder charge against the accused.

Kumar said the bus, which is primarily a school bus was being used for commercial purposes illegally by the driver.

Kumar said the girl was in a "serious condition" but that that there was some improvement.

Speaking in the same vain, Dr B D Athani, Medical Superintendent of Safdarjung Hospital, said: "Her condition is better than yesterday. Her conscious level is much better than yesterday's. She underwent a surgery on Sunday."

He told that the victim will be kept under "close observation" by doctors for the next 48 to 72 hours as the nature of injuries inflicted on her are as such.

The accused refused to undergo Test Identification Parade (TIP), the criminal procedure in which the alleged offender is brought before witnesses and victims for identification.

Out of the seven accused, four have already been arrested.

The Delhi Police told the magistrate that the other three arrested culprits, Ram Singh's brother Mukesh, Vinay Sharma, an assistant gym instructor and Pawan Gupta, a fruit seller, will be produced in court on Wednesday.

While seeking the remand of the driver, the police said his custodial interrogation was needed to recover the clothes of accused, mobile phones and ATM cards of the victim and her male friend.

Further, "we need his remand as three more accused are to be arrested who hail from Rajasthan, UP and Bihar and we have to take Ram Singh to these places," police said.

Allowing the plea, the court said, "Since the accused is required for apprehending other co-accused and also for the identification of clothes and recovery of the ATM card and mobile phones of the complainant.

"Accused Ram Singh is remanded to five days of police custody. Accused be produced on December 23."

Two days after a paramedical student was gang-raped and brutally assaulted in a moving bus, Delhi Police on Tuesday claimed to have solved the case with the arrest of four people and said it will seek a fast-track trial for speedy punishment.

The condition of the victim continued to be critical but "better than yesterday's", doctors said.

Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar told a press conference that the driver of the chartered bus, which was not legally permitted to run on normal routes, his brother and two more people have been arrested, while a massive manhunt has been launched to nab the remaining two accused.

Ram Singh, the driver of the bus, his brother Mukesh, Vinay Sharma, an assistant gym instructor and Pawan Gupta, a fruit seller, were on a "joy ride" on Sunday night when they crossed Munirka bus stop where the paramedic student and her male friend were waiting for a bus to Dwarka.

"Ram Singh shouted that the bus was going to Dwarka and asked the couple to get into it. Once the bus started moving, they started misbehaving with the girl. Her male friend who, protested and tried to save the girl, was severely beaten up. The girl also tried hard to protect him," Kumar said.

But she was raped by Singh and other occupants of the vehicle which was being driven by Mukesh at the time of the incident. The duo were then brutally assaulted and dumped near Mahipalpur flyover, he said.

While Singh, Sharma and Gupta were arrested from the capital, Mukhesh was nabbed from Rajasthan and has been brought to the capital, the Commissioner said, while terming the incident as "most reprehensible".

The bus was located in Sector 3 of R K Puram last evening and was impounded immediately. "The driver cleaned the bus but forensic examination revealed this was the bus in which the incident took place. The duo were dumped from the front gate of the bus," the Police Commissioner said.

Asked why the bus was not stopped by PCR vans, he said it was not practically possible to check every moving vehicle though it can be done theoretically.

To a question, Kumar said while the boy was hit by an iron rod, the girl was punched badly in her stomach.

Asked whether Delhi was becoming the 'rape capital', he said it was not so and refused to discuss rape incidents as a whole.

"Let us discuss this incident. If we discuss it as a whole then I will say something which will be politically incorrect. You will twist and project it differently," he said.

To a question, he said the mobile phones of the victims were not used during the incident.

Sources said police managed to get the CCTV footage of the bus from which they managed to zero in on the bus. The investigators also sent text messages to mobile phones of the victims which were snatched by the attackers to track them down.

Kumar said Delhi Police will seek a fast-track trial for this case on a day-to-day basis so that the accused are punished as soon as possible.

To a question, he said the maximum punishment for this crime was life sentence, but as far as the demands for death sentence for such crimes are concerned the Delhi Police will send a proposal in this regard to Government.

The incident triggered outrage with students of Jawaharlal Nehru University staging a demonstration outside Vasant Kunj Police Station.

The 23-year-old para-medical student was raped and brutally assaulted by four men who also attacked her male friend and threw both of them out of the vehicle.

Last night, Ram Singh, the driver of the bus in which the girl was raped, and his brother Yogesh were arrested. Singh and Yogesh are the first to be arrested, police said and added that Yogesh was driving the bus when Singh allegedly raped the girl along with others.

The woman who was gang-raped and thrown off a moving bus in the capital is still critical and continues to be on ventilator support but can talk now, authorities at the Safdarjung Hospital said on Tuesday.

"The patient is still critical, she is on ventilator support. But since today (Tuesday) morning she has started to speak to the doctor," S.N. Makwana, press information officer at the hospital said.

A senior doctor at the hospital, who is attending to the victim, added that no further surgeries were being planned as of now.

"The patient is in critical condition and she is now trying to speak. As of now we are not planning for any surgery. We can say it is a grievous injury and her intestines are severely damaged," another doctor said on condition of anonymity.

The incident rocked both Houses of Parliament on Tuesday where Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha witnessed uproar by the Opposition. Leader across all political parties condemned the heinous crime.

Speaking in Lok Sabha, leader of opposition and senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj sought death penalty for perpetrators of rape. Speaker Meira Kumar too condemned the brutal incident.

In the Rajya Sabha, Bahujan Samajwadi Party chief Mayawati demanded tough action against the rapists.

The BJP demanded suspension of zero hour, and Rajya Sabha was adjourned for fifteen minutes following uproar over the incident.

Ram Singh, driver of the bus was arrested on Monday night, 3-4 people have been detained and are being questioned by the police.

Another accused has reportedly been arrested.

The girl has severe genital, abdominal and head injuries.

"We performed several life-saving procedures on her within an hour of her being brought to the hospital around 3am. Her injuries were severe and she has lost a lot of blood," said a senior doctor at the hospital.

The victim had reportedly lost nearly a litre of blood and had severe internal injuries.

CCTV footage of the bus in which a 23-year old physiotherapist was gangraped.

"Her intestines are damaged; the blood supply to her intestines has been severed. It looks like she was assaulted by a blunt object as her face also bore injury marks," said the doctor.

The life-saving surgery lasted for more than four hours in the morning. Doctors tried to repair her intestines and other damaged organs and tissues.

"Her injuries are fatal. Though we are pumping her with the strongest of antibiotics possible, sooner or later gangrene is bound to set in. She is in a very bad shape," the doctor added.

The medical staff present at the hospital, when she was brought in, described her condition as "horrifying".

"She was in a pool of blood but conscious. There was blood all over her face. I cannot even imagine the agonising pain she must be in," said a nursing assistant in the hospital who wished to remain anonymous.

Sources in the hospital told Hindustan Times that it seemed at least four people were involved in the crime, as different semen samples were found on her.

The victim, a physiotherapist from Uttam Nagar and her friend, a 28-year-old software engineer, had gone to the Select Citywalk mall in Saket to catch a movie.

By the time the show was over, it was past 8pm and the couple took an autorickshaw to the DDA Munirka bus stop on Outer Ring Road.

After waiting for more than half an hour, the two decided to board a luxury bus en route Dwarka and Palam Village. No sooner than they boarded the bus that one of the seven occupants made a lewd comment.

When her freind objected to their remark, he was beaten up by iron rod.

The victim, in the meantime, was forced into the driver's cabin, where the men took turns to rape her. The bus, meanwhile, circled the Mahipalpur flyover thrice before dumping them.

Later, the girl and the boy were thrown out at a toll plaza on NH8 near the Mahipalpur flyover.

A highway patrol team discovered the unconscious couple bereft of clothing at 10.15pm. They were eventually taken to Safdarjung Hospital by police.

The male friend was discharged after treatment for his injuries on Monday.

He said four of the six accused in the gangrape had already been arrested. "It is proposed to have this case tried by a fast-track court with a request for daily hearings," Shinde said.

Faced with angry demands like death penalty for rapists by MPs led by leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, the home minister announced that a special task force would be formed at the level of the home secretary to look into women's safety issues.

Since Delhi Police is under the direct control of the home ministry, Shinde faced a volley of questions from MPs cutting across party lines on its effectiveness in preventing such crimes in the Capital.

The home minister was repeatedly grilled about how the police control room (PCR) vans deployed across south Delhi failed to notice the incident that began around 9:30pm."I will inquire into this and only after that can I say something," he said.

Shinde outlined a number of steps taken by Delhi Police in recent months to make the city safe.

"All roads are covered by PCR vans at night. The frequency of patrolling has been kept as high as possible."

He said the routes taken particularly by women employees of call centres at night had been identified for increased patrolling. Besides, he said the police had instructed call centres and other organisations to ensure that women staff working in evening shifts are dropped at their doorstep.