A Mahila court in Chengalpet, near Chennai, on Monday, sentenced a 23-year-old mechanical engineer S Dashvanth to death after finding him guilty of sexual assault and murder of a seven-year-old girl in Mugalivakkam here in February last year.
Special judge P Velmurugan found Dashvanth guilty under sections of the POCSO Act and the IPC to award him death penalty and sentencing him to 46 years in prison. The judgement was hailed by slogans shouting people thronging the court premises.
In a separate case, Dashvanth is facing charges of murdering his mother.
Rajesh Babu, the father of the child, said that he was extremely satisfied with the judgement. "I know my child will not come back, but I took up the fight to ensure no other child suffers what my child did. I wanted the death sentence for the monster, nothing less," he said.
According to the prosecution, the mechanical engineer lured the girl into his flat on February 6 last year, where he raped and murdered her. He had stuffed the body in a travel bag and kept it at his home for a day even as the child's parents were searching for her. The next day, he took the body to a desolate location in suburban Anakaputhur and burnt the body beyond recognition. He had even called the police as a passer-by, who was informing the law enforcement authorities.
However, police zeroed in on him when they found out that he had lied about being at a function when the girl vanished from the apartment complex. Police had arrested Dashvanth and even detained him under the stringent Goondas Act, but the delay in filing the charge sheet within 90-days helped him get bail on technical grounds in September last year.
On December 2, Dashvanth allegedly murdered his mother at home and escaped to Mumbai with her jewels. He was arrested in Mumbai on December 5 by Tamil Nadu police, but he managed to escape, only to get caught the next day.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Court")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}