Murder of 13-yr-old boy: Prosecution seeks death for convict

A court here is likely to pronounce tomorrow its judgement in a case of abduction and killing of 13-year-old boy four years ago with the prosecution today demanding death penalty for convict Vijesh Sanghvi.
A sessions court had earlier this week convicted Sanghvi for kidnapping and murdering Aditya Ranka, a south Mumbai resident, on May 13, 2013.
The court had, however, acquitted a co-accused Himanshu Ranka, who was the victim's cousin, due to lack of evidence.
The prosecution today argued before the court and sought death penalty to be imposed on the convict considering the gruesome manner in which the child was killed.

Sanghvi's lawyer sought leniency and said the convict was young and there was a chance of reformation.
According to the prosecution, the conspiracy to kidnap and kill the boy was hatched by Aditya's older cousin Himanshu Ranka to pay off a Rs 10 lakh debt Himanshu had incurred due to loss in a bet on IPL matches.

According to the police, Himanshu was aware that his uncle and Aditya's father Jitendra Ranka, a diamond merchant, was to receive Rs 30 lakh on the day of the incident.
Himanshu then took Aditya on a joy ride and handed Aditya over to Sanghvi. Later Himanshu returned and stayed home with his uncle to avoid suspicion.

When Jitendra received the ransom call the family approached the V P Road police station.
When the case was transferred to crime branch, Himanshu panicked and called Sanghvi. The duo later allegedly decided to kill the boy and dumped his body at Panvel.