HYDERABAD: A POCSO court in Rajendranagar on Wednesday sentenced Meenagala Venugopal, 42, to 20 years’ rigorous imprisonment for sexually assaulting an eight-year-old girl in Gachibowli in 2023. Conclusive DNA evidence and the testimony of 19 witnesses helped establish his guilt despite the defence raising procedural lapses.
Special public prosecutor B Venkateshwara Reddy told TNIE that DNA evidence matched samples collected from Venugopal and the testimony of 19 witnesses supported the prosecution’s case. The victim’s mother also testified that Venugopal had sexually assaulted her daughter several times.
According to the prosecution, on May 9, 2023, the girl was playing on a road near Venugopal’s hut when he called her inside and sexually assaulted her. He allegedly used his lungi to clean semen from the girl before sending her away.
Police seized the lungi, a blanket and other material during the investigation. The lungi was later found to have been washed and torn. The seized articles were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), which detected human semen on the blanket but not on the lungi.
Police subsequently obtained Venugopal’s blood sample at the FSL for DNA comparison. The DNA profile from the stain on the blanket matched Venugopal’s, establishing that they were of the same biological origin.
The court noted that the defence had pointed to contradictions in the timeline and conduct of witnesses. However, it held that the positive DNA match and forensic evidence outweighed minor procedural delays or inconsistencies in oral testimony. “The scientific evidence (DNA and FSL results) provides the anchor for conviction,” the court observed.
The court also directed the state to pay Rs 3 lakh as compensation to the victim from the Telangana Victim Compensation Fund.