Shimla (Himachal Pradesh): A trial Court in Shimla on Friday sentenced the 28-year-old lone accused to life imprisonment in the rape and murder of a 16-year-old minor girl in the forest of Halaila, Kotkhai of Shimla district in 2017. CBI had registered a case on July 22, 2017, on the orders of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh and took over the investigation of the case.
The District and Sessions Judge, Shimla, Rajiv Bharadwaj, who is the special judge of the CBI court, while pronouncing the quantum of punishment in the case, found accused Anil alias Neelu guilty of rape and murder of a minor girl and convicted him under sections 376 (2)(i), 376 (A), and 302 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 4 of the POCSO Act.
As per CBI's advocate Amit Jindal, the Court also imposed a penalty of Rs 10,000 on convict Anil apart from life imprisonment till death. "He has been given the life imprisonment till death. I will not be speaking much on it," the advocate said. The investigation agency had arrested the accused Neelu on April 13, 2018, and a charge sheet was filed in May 2018. The Sessions Court found the accused guilty and convicted him on April 28, after witnessing 59 witnesses.