New Delhi, Jun 27 (PTI): The juvenile accused in the December 16 gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old paramedical student denied before a city court on Wednesday all the charges against him, claiming he did not participate in the crime.

Pleading innocence before the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) headed by principal magistrate Geetanjali Goel, the juvenile accused refuted the police version in the chargesheet of him being the “most brutal” of all the six accused persons. He claimed he was not a participant in the crime and had been “falsely implicated” in the case.

The juvenile claimed innocence when the board put before him evidence collected by the police. He said he was himself victimised by his employer and prime accused Ram Singh, who he said did not pay him for his work.

A native of Uttar Pradesh who moved to Delhi as an 11-year-old and took up menial jobs, the juvenile was one of the six accused arrested after the gang rape of the girl in a moving bus in which the victim’s male friend was also assaulted. He is facing trial before the JJB while the four adult co-accused are being tried before a fast-track court.

The board, which recorded the statement of all the six prosecution witnesses against the juvenile, fixed July 5 for final arguments. The fast-track court trying the adult accused has also completed recording of statement of all the 80 prosecution witnesses.

The paramedical student and her 28-year-old friend were assaulted and the girl was gang raped after they boarded a bus on December 16 last year. The girl died two weeks later at a Singapore hospital.

One of the accused, Ram Singh, was found hanging in Tihar jail in March and the proceedings against him stand abated.

Besides him, four adult accused facing trial in the case are — Mukesh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Thakur. They have been charged with gang rape, murder, criminal conspiracy, unnatural sex and robbery besides other sections of the IPC and their trial is going on in a fast-track court on daily basis.