Additional sessions judge M M Deshpande on Tuesday convicted & sentenced a 36-year-old man to rigorous life imprisonment for raping & murdering a four-year-old girl in his rented room at Bebadohal village in Maval taluka, about 37km from here, in July 2011.
Additional public prosecutor Pushkar Sapre told News Agency, “Accused Dashrath, alias Ajay Arjun Shinde, who is from Malshiras in Solapur district, was working as a labourer in Talegaon Dabhade & residing in a rented room in a chawl. Shinde lured the girl, who belonged to a family from Balia district in Uttar Pradesh, by offering her a chocolate. He took her to his room, raped & later slit her throat with a sharp weapon. He dumped her body in a plastic bag & left it there before running away by locking the room from outside.”
Sapre said, “The incident came to light three days after the girl was first reported missing between 4pm & 11.30pm on July 26, 2011. The police traced & arrested Shinde on Aug 5, 2011, from Nhavare village in Shirur taluka where he was living with a fictitious identity. He was subsequently charged before a magisterial court in Vadgaon Mawal & since the offences were triable by a sessions court, the matter was transferred to the Pune court.”
He said, “We had sought death penalty considering the brutality involved in the incident. But the court preferred sentencing the accused to rigorous life imprisonment. We will move the Bombay HC, as we are not satisfied with the present sentence.”
The court informed the operative part of its ruling to the representing lawyers & a full text of the judgment was expected to be released in due course.
The judge handed out life term to Shinde for the offence of murder under Section 302, 10 years of imprisonment for rape under Section 376 (2) (f) & three years for destruction of evidence under Section 201 of the of the Indian Penal Code. All the sentences are to run concurrently, the judge ruled.
Sapre said, “We had examined total 11 witnesses in support of the prosecution case. The accused had taken a defence of false implication. The court, however, relied on the evidence recorded by key witnesses such as a local resident, who had seen Shinde locking & leaving his room, & the deposition by the girl’s parents.”
He said, “Medical & circumstantial evidence also proved crucial in nailing the accused. The body was recovered from the room hired on rent by the accused & he had no plausible explanation for such a discovery. His conduct before & after the incident was another factor, as he ran away from the scene of crime & remained untraceable for almost a week. The police traced him on the basis of his cellphone call data records.”
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)
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