A Balasore court today sentenced a man to life imprisonment for rape and murder of a minor girl.
The judge of Balasore Special Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences (POCSO) court, Ajanta Sadangi, sentenced Pradeep Kumar Acharya of Chaulachuda village to life imprisonment and also imposed a fine of Rs 35,000 on him.
The man and the girl, an Arts student of a college in Rourkela, were in a relationship, and the girl was pregnant when she was killed on December 10, 2014.
Acharya, under a conspiracy, brought the girl to Balasore from Rourkela to eliminate her when she insisted on marriage, special public prosecutor, Pranab Panda said.
After killing the girl by strangulating her, he hanged her from a branch of a tree and tried to create an impression that she had committed suicide, Panda said.