India Gang-Rape Trial Takes Surprise Turn

With a verdict in the Delhi gang rape case that outraged India just weeks away, one defendant has broken ranks to admit that he was on the bus where a young woman was raped and thrown from the vehicle with fatal injuries. Mukesh Singh—brother of the alleged ringleader who hanged himself while awaiting trial—has changed his story to say he was driving the bus, but was in a driver's cabin where he could not see or hear what was happening in the back, according to documents seen by the Wall Street Journal.

The defense's strategy was based on insisting that none of the men were present, and Singh's statement "has messed up everything," a lawyer for one of the other suspects complained. Singh has implicated the other three surviving adult defendants, who could face the death penalty if found guilty, and a juvenile who is being tried separately. The juvenile, who is now 18, will face a maximum 3-year sentence if found guilty but the victim's family say anything less than the death penalty will be "totally unacceptable, reports the Guardian. (More India stories.)