Death sentence for youth accused of murdering Guntur BTech student in 2021

Guntur: A special court in Guntur awarded a death sentence to a youth accused of murdering a B.Tech student in 2021. On 15 August 2021, 20-year-old woman was stabbed to death by Kunchala Sasikrishna. He allegedly killed the woman after she repeatedly rejected his advances.

The two met on Instagram. Sasikrishna later met her in college and expressed his love. She started keeping a distance from the youth after he threatened to kill her if she did not love him back. On 15 August, he carried out his threat. Her family was unaware of these developments, though the accused had been stalking her for months. Sasikrishna, a resident of Mutlur under Vatticherukuru mandal, stabbed the woman eight times when she came out of her house to fetch breakfast. She died on the way to the government hospital.

The Andhra Pradesh government directed officials to form special teams to nab the accused. Sasikrishna was arrested that night in Molakaluru near Narasaraopet. The Guntur police filed a charge sheet within six days of the incident. The testimonies of 36 witnesses were recorded in the Guntur special court since 7 December 2021. The CCTV footage of the incident was also taken into consideration which was also one of the key pieces of evidence. Final arguments of the case commenced in the second week of April this year which ended on Tuesday. Judge Ram Gopal announced the verdict on Friday.

A month after the murder, her sister Mounika was given a job in the revenue department on 16 September. She was also given the opportunity to complete her degree within five years. National SC commission vice-chairman Arun Haldar lauded the AP government's quick response to the murder case which had created a sensation in the state. He praised the manner in which the state government handled the case with sensitivity and provided compensation to the victim's family.