A man, who was accused of raping and murdering a four-month-old girl in Rajwada, was awarded death sentence by Indore district court on Saturday, ANI reported today. (Representative photo: PTI)

A man, who was accused of raping and murdering a four-month-old girl in Rajwada, was awarded death sentence by Indore district court on Saturday, ANI reported today. In a horrific incident, the infant was raped and her body was recovered soaked in blood from the basement of a building. The accused, identified as Naveen Gadge, was arrested on April 20 for raping the baby. The police identified the accused as the uncle of the infant from the CCTV footage. He was the cousin of the victim’s mother.

Earlier on Saturday, as per reports, the court convicted Gadge of the crime. The court found him guilty under various sections including POCSO act. However, when asked if he wanted to say something, he reportedly denied the allegations and said he did not do anything to the child.

The CCTV images had shown the 25-year-old accused carried the baby on his shoulder and took her to the basement of a commercial building, around 50 metres away from where her family was sleeping. After raping the child, he mercilessly threw her on the ground from a height and she died. The body was found in the basement next day in the afternoon.

The post-mortem of the girl conducted at state-run MY Hospital in Indore suggested the baby might have been raped before being killed as her private parts bore injury marks.

Detailing the sequence of events, the senior police officer had said Gadge’s wife separated from him a few days ago. On the night of April 20, he went to the infant’s mother and asked her to persuade his wife to return to him. However, an altercation broke out between them and he was told to leave. Next day, he returned to the family, who earn their living selling balloons, when they were sleeping under an open space near the historic Rajwada Palace and abducted the baby.