Nagpur: In the sensational case of the rape and murder of a five-yea rold girl in Linga village, Kalmeshwar Tehsil, district Nagpur, District Judge and Additional Sessions Judge S R Padwal has convicted accused Sanjay Devpuri Puri of the charges.
The incident, which occurred on December 6, 2019, witnessed major outrage among the villagers due to the heinous crime. The body of the girl with a serious head injury was found in the agriculture farm where she lived with her parents. Puri had raped the girl and later smashed her head with a stone to kill the girl.
Parents of the girl live on the one side of the agriculture farm while her grandmother on the other side, with a small path connecting both the houses. Her parents work as farm labourers. When the girl went missing, the parents assumed that she might have gone to the house of her grandmother. However, they lodged a missing person complaint on the next day after realising that she was not traceable. The police had launched searches and recovered her dead body from the farm. A piece of cloth and a rod were found stuffed in her mouth. The cops have also recovered a boulder with blood stains from the spot.
Puri was arrested by the police who was living in the farm and working as watchman. A case of murder was registered under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). After receiving post-mortem report indicating sexual assault, the police added Sections 376(Ab),376 (2)(I) of the Indian Penal Code, provisions of POSCO Act and Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention Of Atrocities) Act.
During the trial, the court examined a total of 26 witnesses and held the accused guilty for the heinous crime.
