Odisha man gets death penalty for rape and murder of minor girl

A court in Sundargarh district on Thursday awarded death penalty to a person after he was convicted of kidnapping, raping and killing a minor girl. The incident took place in Dengibhadi area under the Sadar Police limits of the district in 2016. The convict has been identified as Sanjib Kerketa.

In the complaint filed by the victim’s mother, it was stated that she and her 4-year-old daughter were asleep in their house. Someone managed to break into the house at night and kidnapped the girl. Then, the woman chased after the accused but failed to find him and the girl.

Acting on the complaint, police started an investigation into the matter and recovered the victim’s body three days later. A post mortem on the body was conducted and it pointed out that the girl was murdered after sexual assault. 
Stepping up the investigation, police came to know that Sanjib had perpetrated the crime and arrested him.  

A special POCSO court held a hearing of the case and recorded statements of 35 witnesses before pronouncing the verdict.    

Government counsel Debasish Mishra observed: On the basis of the statements of 35 witnesses, POCSO court Judge Mahendra Kumar Sutradhar convicted Sanjib of the crime and awarded him the death penalty.

Report by Debabrata Jena