Hyderabad: The court of Metropolitan Sessions Judge (MSJ) here on Tuesday awarded death penalty to a man for raping and murdering a five-year-old girl of Odisha.
A statement issued by the Cyberabad Police Commissionerate said the court also imposed a fine of Rs 1,000 on the accused, Dinesh Kumar Dharne.
According to case details, both the victim’s family and accused were residents of Aryamitra labour camp at Alkapuri Township.
The matter came to light after victim’s mother lodged a complaint with Narsingi police station that the accused had taken her daughter to a kirana shop to buy her chocolate but later returned alone and claimed that he had dropped her back at the labour camp.
Based on the plaint, the police grilled the accused and investigations revealed that the accused, after buying a chocolate for the victim, took her to nearby bushes beside compound wall of Sri Shiridi Sai Prem Samaj Hospital, Narsingi heights, Narsingi Village, and committed the rape and murder.
Dinesh was subsequently arrested and remanded to judicial custody. It was during interrogation, he had confessed to having committed the offence.
However, after obtaining bail the accused absconded and went into hiding in Madhya Pradesh and so the trial was interrupted for a brief period. Special teams were formed to trace him, and he was arrested. The court directed authorities to keep the accused in judicial custody till the trial was completed.
The Metropolitan Sessions Judge B Suresh Babu found Dinesh guilty under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act) and IPC section 302 and sentenced death penalty for the ghastly crime committed in 2017.
