In an apparent haste to calm down public anger over the death of the 23-year-old medical student who was gang raped and brutalized by a gang of thugs earlier this month, Indian police Saturday invoked murder charges against the six men involved in the gang-rape.

"We hope to file the charge sheet by the 3rd of January, 2013. Section 302 of IPC, which is the penal section for murder, has been added in the case," Dharmendra Kumar, special commissioner of police (law and order), told the media.

He said a special public prosecutor of eminence has been appointed to conduct the trial in a fast track court on a day-to- day basis.

"It will be our endeavor to ensure the harshest punishment in the book to the culprits," he added.

The victim of the gang rape, identified as Nirbhaya by local media, died in wee hours Saturday in a hospital in Singapore.

The autopsy of the victim was done by a Singaporean medical team and the report will be made available to investigators at the earliest, according to the police.