Vijayawada: Two persons were sentenced life imprisonment by POCSO Court in Vijayawada for kidnap and rape of a minor girl. Mahila police station booked a case on two persons Sirigiri Chandra Sekhar alias Sai aged 24 and Anuraj Prakash aged 23 in May 2022 and investigated the case. POCSO court judge V Bhavani on Thursday awarded the life punishment to the duo and asked to pay a fine of Rs 32,000 and Rs 20,000 respectively by Chandra Sekhar and Prakash. Chandrasekhar hails from Darsipeta and Prakash from Patamata.
According to prosecution, the accused Chandra Sekhar has befriended a minor girl studying eighth standard and raped her. The culprit had taken her photographs and later used to blackmail her. The girl is an orphan and has been living at the residence of grandparents in Patamata.
Later, the accused Chandra Sekhar along with his friend Anuraj Prakash had threatened the girl that they would make her photos public and committed the heinous crime. Due to fear of exposing her old photos, the girl went with them.
The family members lodged a complaint against the two– Chandrasekhar and Anuraj. Mahila police booked cases under sections of 366(A), 376 (3), 376 DA and arrested the duo. The police enquired with 31 persons and collected evidence. The investigation was started under the supervision of former ACB VV Naidu. Under the guidance of Mahila police ACP K Latha Kumar, the inspector P Jagadeeswara Rao and other police personnel took part in the investigation and collected evidence on the heinous crime committed by the duo.
The police booked a case on a minor who helped the duo to commit the crime. The police handed over the minor to the Juvenile home and investigation is underway. The judge also instructed the police to take steps to pay Rs 5 lakh compensation to the victim. Mahila police had taken special care in the investigation to collect the evidence so that the guilty should be punished.
