One of the four men, Vinay Sharma,who were sentenced to death for gang-rape, torture and killing of a young medical student in 2012 in what came to be known as the Nirbhaya case, reportyedly tried to hang himself with a towel at the high security Tihar jail in Delhi on Wednesday.

Sharma, who was a gym instructor, took pills before trying to hang himself. He has been admitted to hospital and out of danger.

Last year, he had demanded more security in jail reporting that he had been beaten up by other inmates.

Another convict Ram Singh, the driver of the bus in which the woman was assaulted, was found hanging in Tihar jail in March 2013.

Six men were found guilty of raping and torturing the 23 years old physiotherapist, who was on her way to home after watching a movie on a winter evening. She died in hospital, after the hard struggle of 13 days. As street protests propmted through a shocked nation, the government introduced major changes to laws on crimes against women.

Vinay Sharma and three others had appealed against their death sentence in the Supreme Court.

The youngest of the rapists, who was short of 18 when he was arrested, was released from a correction home last year after three years in probation, amid protests by hundreds including the woman's parents.

By Prakriti Neogi