KOCHI: An accused in the case of rape and murder of a plus-two student in Valparai has been awarded twin life imprisonment. The sentence was pronounced to the accused Safarsha (29) of Nettoor by the Ernakulam POCSO Court. He raped and murdered the 17-year-old girl, who was a plus two student in a school in Kochi. The court had found him guilty earlier. Charges such as rape of a minor, impregnating her and murder were proved against him.

The youth abducted the girl, who was returning home after class on January 7 in 2020, in a car. He took her to Malakkappara part in Athirappilly. He then stabbed the girl to death using a knife inside the car. He abandoned the body in the coffee plantation near Malakkappara and then fled via Valparai. The police took him into custody on that day itself when he tried to flee in the car via Pollachi after committing the crime. The body was recovered from the planation after interrogating him. He told police that he killed her after she withdrew from the friendship with him.