HYDERABAD: A five-year-old girl’s testimony that a man she called ‘Dongodu’ (thief) took her into a room and removed her clothes helped a POCSO court in Rangareddy convict 50-year-old Mokkanna Appanna of sexual assault and sentence him to seven years in prison.
Judge T Srinivas of the Fast Track Special POCSO Court at Rajendranagar also awarded Rs 3 lakh compensation to the victim.
The girl’s mother told Miyapur police that her daughter went missing while playing outside their house around 7.30 pm on February 10, 2025. She later found the child emerging from an abandoned room opposite their house, with her underwear removed. The girl said Appanna had taken her inside and removed her underwear. Relatives caught him, but he escaped.
Police arrested Appanna and filed a chargesheet. During the trial, 12 witnesses were examined. The child testified that ‘Dongodu’ (thief) took her into a room near a shop, removed her clothes and that she cried before coming out.