Telangana: Man gets death sentence for raping, murdering 5-year-old girl

Hyderabad: A Special POCSO (FTS) Judge Court in Sangareddy district has awarded death sentence to a 56-year-old man, a labourer from Bihar, for raping and murdering a five-year-old girl at Bhanoor in Sangareddy district in October 2023.

The Court at Sangareddy found the accused Gaffar Ali guilty under relevant sections of IPC and POCSO and sentenced him to capital punishment, a police official said.

Special Judge for POCSO cases, Sangareddy, K Jayanti also awarded Rs 10 lakh compensation to the girl's family from Bihar's Jamui.

According to the prosecution, the girl was staying with her grandparents at a construction site at Bhanoor.

On October 16, 2023, the girl's grandparents went for work leaving behind their grand daughter with the security guard at the site. The accused, who was in a drunken state, told the security guard that he knew the girl and took her with him on the pretext that he would offer her a cool drink.

The accused gave her cool drink mixed with alcohol and took her to a cotton field and raped her and killed her with a knife. He was subsequently arrested after a case was registered against him based on a complaint, police said.

The evidence of Ali's guilt was traced by his confession, the shopkeeper's and security guard's statements, CCTV footage, and forensic analysis, the police added.