KEONJHAR: A court in Odisha's Keonjhar district on Thursday sentenced a man to death penalty for rape and murder of a three-year-old girl.
Additional District Court-cum Special Court Judge Lokanath Sahu pronounced capital punishment to 20-year-old Sunil Kumar Naik after convicting him for rape and murder of the minor girl on January 13, 2017.
Naik was booked under various sections of IPC and section 6 of the Pocso (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act.
The convict was arrested by police and the court awarded death sentence to him after taking statements of 28 witnesses.
The medical examination report stated that the girl died due to shock and haemorrhage by forceful penetration, said public prosecutor.
Police said Nayak of Sasang village under Champua police station area, was a relative of the girl and therefore visited the victims house frequently.
On January 13, 2017, he took the girl to a secluded place and raped her.
Later, he killed her by throttling in order to conceal the crime.
After his conviction, Naik claimed he was innocent and said he would move higher court to review the judgement.
This was the fifth incident of death penalty being awarded by a court in Odisha in the last six months for rape of minor girl.