Jajpur, May 31 (PTI) A court in Odisha's Jajpur district on Saturday sentenced a man to life imprisonment for raping and murdering a minor girl nine years ago.

Additional District and Sessions Judge (Fast Track Special Court-II), Jajpur, Bijay Kumar Jena pronounced the jail sentence and slapped the convict Sheik Mohit with Rs 10,000 fine for raping and killing a 5-year-old tribal girl.

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The court pronounced the verdict on the testimony of 35 witnesses. The court also directed the district legal service authority to provide Rs 5 lakh compensation to the deceased girl's mother.

Sheik Mohit was found guilty of raping and brutally murdering the minor girl, a government lawyer said.

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According to prosecution, Sheikh Mohit, a resident of Balasore had a scrap shop near Ferro Chrome Plant in Jajpur Road in 2016. The 5-year-old girl from a tribal community had visited the scrap shop owned by Mohit to sell some glass bottles. Finding her alone, Mohit raped the girl and strangled her to death to destroy evidence. Later, he stuffed the body in a sack and dumped it on the railway track near the Jajpur Road Railway Station.

Based on the complaint filed by the family of the deceased, the Jajpur Road police investigated the case and arrested the accused.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)