BENGALURU: A 41-year-old man was on Thursday sentenced to rigorous imprisonment (RI) for his entire life without remission for raping and killing a six-year-old girl in Banashankari III Stage on April, 20, 2017.
The convict – Anil Balagar, a father of two and from Shahapur in Yadgir district – worked as a labourer. He had earlier been sentenced to death by another city court in the same case.However, he appealed against the sentence in the high court, which remanded the matter back to a lower court and asked it to hear the case afresh.
The girl was visiting her grandparents, who were Balagar’s neighbours. Balagar lured her with the promise of showing her a cartoon on TV and took her to his house. He sexually abused the girl in the bathroom. When she raised alarm, he smothered her to death and had sex with her body.
When the grandparents and their neighbours knocked on his house while searching for the child, he told them she was not there. He later stuffed the body in a carton box and joined in the search. The same evening, he left the city, telling everyone he was going to his hometown to bring his wife and two kids back home.
Girinagar police registered a case of kidnap. Inspector BM Kotreshi suspected the girl was in one of the residences in the area and mounted a house-to-house search. They opened Balagar’s house window and noticed a foul smell. They broke open the front door and found the decomposed body on April 23. Balagar, who was on the run, was detained from Sedam railway station in Kalaburagi district.
The murdered girl was as old as one of Balagar’s daughters. During a spot inquest, he attempted suicide by banging his head against a water tap.
Balagar was charge-sheeted for kidnap, rape, murder, destruction of evidence, and under sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. In April 2018, a special court for children awarded Balagar the death sentence and rigorous imprisonment for 10 years. Balagar, who had not been represented by a lawyer, appealed in the high court against the sentence.
Ordered to hear the case afresh, a city civil court appraised the evidence, including scientific findings from the girl’s clothes and the autopsy report. About 40 witnesses, including the child’s grandparents, neighbours and a 12-year-old boy who had seen Balagar taking the girl into his house, deposed before the court.
The convict – Anil Balagar, a father of two and from Shahapur in Yadgir district – worked as a labourer. He had earlier been sentenced to death by another city court in the same case.However, he appealed against the sentence in the high court, which remanded the matter back to a lower court and asked it to hear the case afresh.
The girl was visiting her grandparents, who were Balagar’s neighbours. Balagar lured her with the promise of showing her a cartoon on TV and took her to his house. He sexually abused the girl in the bathroom. When she raised alarm, he smothered her to death and had sex with her body.
When the grandparents and their neighbours knocked on his house while searching for the child, he told them she was not there. He later stuffed the body in a carton box and joined in the search. The same evening, he left the city, telling everyone he was going to his hometown to bring his wife and two kids back home.
Girinagar police registered a case of kidnap. Inspector BM Kotreshi suspected the girl was in one of the residences in the area and mounted a house-to-house search. They opened Balagar’s house window and noticed a foul smell. They broke open the front door and found the decomposed body on April 23. Balagar, who was on the run, was detained from Sedam railway station in Kalaburagi district.
The murdered girl was as old as one of Balagar’s daughters. During a spot inquest, he attempted suicide by banging his head against a water tap.
Balagar was charge-sheeted for kidnap, rape, murder, destruction of evidence, and under sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. In April 2018, a special court for children awarded Balagar the death sentence and rigorous imprisonment for 10 years. Balagar, who had not been represented by a lawyer, appealed in the high court against the sentence.
Ordered to hear the case afresh, a city civil court appraised the evidence, including scientific findings from the girl’s clothes and the autopsy report. About 40 witnesses, including the child’s grandparents, neighbours and a 12-year-old boy who had seen Balagar taking the girl into his house, deposed before the court.