9 rapists sentenced to life

A fast track court at Kothagudem has convicted 14 accused in a gang rape case where they shot the video on mobile phone and telecast it on the local cable TV network.

Nine of the accused have been sentenced for life imprisonment, one for 10 years, and four for five-year rigorous imprisonment. The Kothagudem Fast-Track Court Additional Sessions Judge, Ms Vijaya Lakshmi, passed the verdict on Monday.

In 2007, a minor girl was raped and blackmailed by circulating the obscene photographs of rape. The victim was threatened not to reveal though she had been sexually assaulted since February 17, 2007. However, she disclosed the crime only on January 5, 2009.

A case was registered with Kottagudem two-town police station of Khammam district against the 14 accused. The case was booked under the Information Technology Act apart from rape and other IPC sections. The accused are in the jail on remand since then.
The then Khammam superintendent of police and now Eluru DIG, Mr Mahesh Muralidhar Bhagawat, said, “the accused made a power point presentation of the rape photos and telecast them on the TV.”

The nine accused convicted for life have been identified as Amar, 24 , Raju, 28, Vamsi, 24, Raj Kamal, 19, Sudhakar, 26, Mahamood, 24, Muktyal, 46, Sultan, 23, and Baba, 21. The accused were convicted for gang-rape and under Section 66 of the IT Act. Another accused Md Ramjan, 22, was sentenced for 10 years for helping the rapists. Four other accused identified as P. Phani Kumar, 26, Nagaraju, 29, G. Madhu and K. Little Babu were sentenced for five years.