Nayagarh, Feb 6:The Additional District-cum-Special POCSO court, Nayagarh on Tuesday sentenced a youth to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for raping and murdering a five-year-old girl, namely Pari, of Jadupur village in Odisha's Nayagarh district in 2020.

Additional District-cum-Special Pocso court Judge Lily Senapaty sentenced the convict, identified as Saroj Sethi of Jadupur village in Nayagarh district, to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 6000 on the convict. If he defaults, he would have to serve another two years of imprisonment.

On July 4, 2020, the minor girl had gone missing while playing near her house at Jadupur village. Later, her skeletal remains stuffed in a gunny bag were traced to the backyard of her house.

In November 2020, the Odisha Government constituted a five-member Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by senior IPS officer Arun Bothra, to probe the alleged murder of the five-year-old girl.

Later, the SIT arrested minor boy Saroj Sethi in this connection.

In a press meet, SIT chief Arun Bothra had claimed that the minor girl had gone to Saroj's house to collect blackberries. “Saroj, who was alone at his house, took the girl to a room and allegedly tried to undress her. She resisted and started crying, after which he strangled her,” Bothra had said.

The SIT chief had also said that the accused was addicted to child pornography and he had tried to have sexual intercourse with the corpse after strangling the minor girl.

While the accused failed to have sex with the corpse, semen discharge was found on the girl's clothes, Bothra had said adding that the accused later stuffed the body in a gunny bag and hid it under coconut fronds near a pond in the village.

However, the minor girl's parents maintained that the punishment on Saroj Sethi in connection to the murder of the girl is an eyewash and an attempt to save an influential BJD leader.

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