Convict on death row, hangs self at Yerwada Central Prison
Pune : A murder convict who was sentenced to death for sodomising and murdering an 8 year old boy at Chakan in 2013, allegedly committed suicide by hanging inside the high secuirty Yerwada central jail in the wee hours of Friday.
The deceased has been identified as Khalaksinh Janaksinh Panchal, a native of Hamirpur in Uttar Pradesh.
A special court in Khed-Rajgurungar, about 45km from Pune, had handed out a death sentence to Panchal on September 22 this year.
Panchal was living in Bapdeo Wasti, Kadachiwadi in Khed taluka at the time of the incident. He was working as a casual labourer at a construction site for a school building in Kadachewadi.
According to a complaint by the boy’s father, their house is located on the road leading to the construction site. Panchal would often pass through this road and played with children, including the victim and his two brothers. He would often offer them chocolates.
On the evening of May 15, 2013, Panchal told the victim’s father that he was taking the boy to a nearby place to give him chocolates. However, the boy did not return home till late that night, prompting his parents and villagers to lodge a report with the Chakan police.
Considering the boy was last seen with Panchal, the parents and the villagers had named him as a suspect. Panchal was arrested from Pune railway station in the wee hours of May 16, 2013, while he was preparing to board a train to his native in Uttar Pradesh. The same morning, the victim’s body was found lying in a farm located close to the under-construction school site where Panchal was living on the first floor.
