Youth gets life imprisonment for rape and murder of co-worker

Special Judge P V Ganediwala awarded life-term to 24-year-old Nagendra Paswan, hailing from UP, after finding him guilty under sections 302 (murder) and 376 (punishment for rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

According to prosecution, Paswan had met the girl, who was also working at the same factory in suburban Dadar, in 2010 after he joined there.

Paswan soon started pestering the girl for marriage which she refused. However, he started stalking her, police said.

Police said Paswan called the victim on July 18, 2010 and asked her to come to the factory, where he used to stay. He again confronted her with the proposal but the girl spurned him, following which he sexually assaulted her and later strangulated her with dupatta which resulted in her death.

Paswan then dumped the victim's body in a room on the premises and fled to his hometown in UP. The body was spotted by another worker the next day, they said.

Meanwhile, the girl's parents filed a case with the Dadar police station.

Paswan was apprehended from his hometown on August 10, 2010 after police traced his location through his mobile phone, they said.

Prosecution has examined 17 witnesses in the case including other workers at the factory and forensic experts.