A court here sentenced Jakkula Venkatswamy (30) to death for rape and murder of a four-and-a-half-year-old girl in Damerakunta village of Kataram mandal, now in Jayashankar Bhupalpalli district.
The sentence was pronounced by Karimnagar First Additional Sessions Judge D Suresh.
According to the prosecution, Venkatswamy, a habitual offender, had nursed a grudge against the victim’s father, Rajaswamy, who was working as home guard in the Kataram police station, as the latter had told him to mend his ways. The assailant had lured the girl to his house and assaulted her before throttling her to death. He had hid the body in a basket and escaped on February 27 this year.
The police nabbed him on March 4 and launched prosecution proceedings. The accused was married but his wife had deserted him.
