A court in Maharashtra has sentenced a man to death for raping and murdering a 5-year-old girl in the year 2016.

The court said the crime was extremely cruel and one of the most horrific in Mumbai.

According to a report by NDTV, the 5-year-old girl was raped in Parbhani, Maharashtra, which is located 500 kilometers away from Mumbai.

Her body was found in a well 3 days later.

According to the prosecution, the accused kidnapped the 5-year-old girl outside her house before raping her.

The man later strangled her to death with a nylon rope.

The man wrapped the body of the 5-year-old girl in a gunny bag and threw it into a well.

There was no direct evidence that the man committed the crime, so the prosecution relied on circumstantial evidence to prove its case.

As part the investigation, the prosecution examined 23 witnesses, which includes the grandfather of the deceased girl.

SD Wakodkar, an Additional Public Prosecutor, told the court that the case was proved beyond all reasonable doubt.

The prosecutor sought death sentence for the accused.

While asking for capital punishment, Wakodkar said, “This falls under the ambit of the ‘rarest of rare’ case. It is a case of aggravated penetrative sexual assault on the minor girl and killing her.”

The judge added, “The act is more cruel than that of the most dreaded animal who kills for hunger or in self-defence only.”

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