Coimbatore :The POCSO special court here Friday awarded death sentence to a 34-year old man for rape and murder of a six-year old girl some nine months ago on the city outskirts.

Santhoshkumar was arrested for the crime occured on March 25 in Pannimadai, in which he had raped and murdered the girl, the daughter of a neighbour of his grandmother and thrown the body wrapped in a T-shirt in garbage bin.

The case was going on in the Mahila Court, where 32 witnesses were examined.

The court, now POCSO Special Court Judge R Radhika, pronounced Santhoshkumar guilty of rape and murder Friday morning and sentenced to
undergo death sentence by hanging, in the evening.

Radhika awarded death sentence for murder under sec 302, life sentence for sexual assault and seven year imprisonment under Sec 201 for destroying evidence.

On the petition filed by the girl’s mother to arrest another person involved in the crime, which was revealed in a DNA test, the judge
ordered to reinvestigate the case.