Man sentenced to death for rape-murder of 4-year-old in UP's Gonda

Gonda (UP): A court here on Saturday, December 21 awarded death sentence to a man convicted of rape and murder a four-year-old girl, a senior police officer said.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Vineet Jaiswal told PTI here that during the trial, Additional Sessions Judge Rajesh Narayan Mani Tripathi, after hearing evidence available on the file and the arguments of the advocates, convicted the accused Vishwanath Vanskar.

The judge sentenced him to death on Saturday, terming the incident as heinous.

The four-year-old girl was raped and murdered in a garden near Katra railway station under Nawabganj police station area of the district on the intervening night of June 21 and 22 June this year. Her body was found in a mutilated condition the next morning, he said.

A murder case was lodged against unknown persons initially and in view of the seriousness of the incident, five teams were formed.

All teams collected electronic and manual evidence and arrested Vishwanath Vanshkar, a resident of Datia, Madhya Pradesh within 24 hours of the incident and sent him to jail after completing the legal process, the SP said.

The then investigating officer, Inspector-in-charge Manoj Kumar Rai completed the investigation within ten days and sent the chargesheet to the court. Sections of rape in the Indian Penal Code and the relevant provisions of the The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act was levelled against him, the officer said.

After completion of the hearing, the court pronounced the sentence on Saturday, he said.