Ram Singh allegedly committed suicide in February. The four others were convicted by a fast-track court, which said the men had committed the "murder of a helpless person."
The mother of one of the four men who will be sentenced on Friday for raping and murdering a young student on a Delhi bus has called for leniency, describing her son as "a good boy." (
Death sentence or life term? India waits)
The horrific contours of the crime - the student was violated with an iron rod and died two weeks later of severe injuries - drove massive street protests, forcing the government to overhaul archaic laws to punish crimes against women.
Vinay Sharma, who is 20, is one of the four men tried and convicted for gang-rape, murder and destruction of evidence. He was working in a gym at the time of the crime and is the only one of the convicts to have completed schooling. (
Four convicted for rape & murder in case that shook India)
His mother spoke to news agency AFP from the slum in the south of the city where most of the gang lived, saying her son and friend and fellow convict Pawan Gupta were "good boys". (
Delhi gang-rape case verdict: I want to live, she told her mother)
"They are hard workers. Not one complaint against them," she said, sitting outside her brick hut with a corrugated iron roof, face veiled with her orange saree.
"The judge should give them a second chance to reform themselves. Even God gives every person a second chance," Devi said on Thursday afternoon. (
At least three of four convicts to appeal)
Six men were arrested within days of the gang-rape on December 16. The alleged gang leader was found hanging in his cell in March. Another, a juvenile, was sentenced last month to three years in a reform centre. (
Juvenile found guilty of rape and murder, gets less than three years in reform home)
The four others were convicted on Tuesday by a fast-track court, which said the men had committed the "murder of a helpless person." The order said the gang had brought iron rods to not just over-power but kill the girl, who was assaulted so savagely that her internal organs were removed "by hand" by the convicts. (
They committed the murder of a helpless victim, says judge)