Gaya, Nov 2 (PTI) A special court here on Monday awarded life imprisonment to a man after convicting him on charges of kidnapping, raping and murdering an eight-year-old girl in 2018.

Additional district and sessions judge-cum-special POCSO court judge Ashutosh Kumar Upadhyaya held Chhotu Rawani guilty of kidnapping, raping and murdering the minor girl, sentenced him to life imprisonment and also slapped a fine of Rs 5,000. The man was convicted under sections of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC). According to the prosecution, Rawani had on February 6, 2018 kidnapped his neighbour's daughter from a place under Rampur police station area of Gaya town and raped her.

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The convist later killed the girl with an intention to destroy evidence, the prosecution said.

Her body was recovered from a bush near the boundary wall of the district magistrates residence on the following day.

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Rawani was arrested on February 8, 2018.

A total of 22 witnesses were produced during the course of hearing.

(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)