Pune: A special court in Khed, near Pune, on Thursday awarded death sentence to a 35-year-old man for sodomising and murdering an eight-year-old boy in 2013.
S R Jagtap, the designated judge of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) Court, awarded capital punishment to convict Khalaksinh Janaksinh Panchal, a resident of Hamirpur in Uttar Pradesh.
The convict got death sentence for murder and for other offences like sexual assault he was awarded life sentence and lesser terms of imprisonment. All the sentences will run concurrently.
As per police records, on May 15, 2013, Panchal, a contract labourer, had called few children including the deceased boy by luring them with chocolates in Chakan, 40 km from here.
"When the boy did not come home till late evening, his father, also a construction labourer, started searching him and lodged a police complaint," said Girish Kobal, public prosecutor in the case.
He said later the same night, police found the boy under a construction building with his clothes taken off and blood oozing from his mouth.
"The boy was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was declared dead and post mortem report revealed that he was sodomised before being strangled to death," said Kobal.
As per the prosecutor, during investigation, it was found that Panchal had committed the crime.
The man was arrested while he was preparing to leave the city and tried under sections 302 (murder), 377 (unnatural sex) of IPC and relevant sections of the POSCO Act.
