70-year-old sentenced to death for rape, murder of minor in Atpadi

The Vita sessions court in Sangli's Atpadi has sentenced a 70-year-old man to death for raping and murdering a minor girl. The convict, Shivaji Kondiba Kalel, is a resident of Galvewadi village in Atpadi taluka. He has also been sentenced to life imprisonment for the remainder of his natural life in two separate cases of sexual abuse of two other minor girls. The verdict was delivered by District and Sessions Judge Ravikaran Bhagwat. Government pleader Aarti Anand Deshpande-Sathavilkar argued the case for the prosecution.

The case dates back to 7 January 2018. A minor girl went missing from her home in the Galvewadi area of Atpadi taluka at around four in the afternoon. Relatives searched for her everywhere but could not find her. The next morning, her body was found in the Jagmai well in Galvewadi. Medical examination and the post-mortem report showed that she had been raped and strangled to death. Police then began investigating the case as one of rape and murder.

For about six months after the incident, the accused evaded arrest. Meanwhile, on 26 July 2018, a case was registered against Shivaji Kalel for the sexual abuse of two minor girls. During the investigation of that case, statements of the victim girls and their mother were recorded in court under Section 164. These statements revealed to investigators that the accused had been with the girl who was found dead on 7 January. Police then intensified the investigation and made Kalel the main accused in the murder case.

The investigation also found that the accused had first tried to hide the body and then attempted to destroy evidence by throwing it into the well. Police seized an iron kangi, a bedsheet and several other items. The victim's grandparents identified a bindi found on the bedsheet. A forensic laboratory report from Kolhapur also confirmed the presence of human bloodstains on the iron kangi. These pieces of evidence, along with witness statements, proved crucial to the case.

The prosecution examined a total of 19 witnesses in the case. Accepting the evidence and arguments presented by the prosecution, the court found Shivaji Kalel guilty of the rape and murder of the minor girl and sentenced him to death. He was also sentenced to life imprisonment for the remainder of his natural life in the two other cases of sexual abuse of minor girls. The verdict has come several years after the 2018 incident, and it was closely watched across Atpadi taluka and the entire Sangli district.