Berhampur: A special Pocso court in Kandhamal district on Tuesday sentenced a 20-year-old man to life imprisonment for killing a 16-year-old girl after raping her about seven years ago in the district.Special Pocso judge Manoranjan Das imposed a Rs 13,000 fine on the accused. He will undergo another year of rigorous imprisonment if he fails to pay the fine, said Ramesh Chandra Mohanty, special public prosecutor. The court directed the district legal service authorities to pay Rs 8 lakh as compensation to the girl’s family, he said. The court pronounced the judgement after examining and recording the statements of 25 witnesses, including police and doctors, and based on the medical reports, he said.Sources said the accused invited the girl to his house before she was murdered. After some dispute between them, he allegedly killed her on March 11, 2019. Her body was thrown into a water tank to destroy evidence. Police recovered the body on March 16, 2019 and registered an unnatural death case.Police registered a rape and murder case against the accused on March 19, 2019, after they found she was raped and murdered by the accused, and arrested him. The accused was on bail during the pronouncement of the verdict on Tuesday, sources said.
