Thane, Mar 6 (PTI) A court in Thane district Wednesday awarded death sentence to a man for raping and murdering an 18-year-old woman in 2013.
Additional Sessions Judge at Kalyan, N M Waghmare, held Ashok Mukane, 37, guilty under IPC sections 376 (rape) and 302 (murder), and also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on him.
The prosecution told the court that Mukane, who hailed from Shahapur in Thane district, had committed the crime on September 5, 2013.
"The victim was walking along the railway tracks between Asangaon and her house at Savroli, when the accused accosted and dragged her by the side of the tracks and raped her. Later he gagged her to death," the prosecution said.
"After committing the crime, he took away her mobile phone, but left the SIM card intact inside. He went to sell off the phone at mobile shops. Police got a tip-off about it and he was arrested," the prosecution said.
Mukane was jobless and had a habit of drinking, it told the court.
Terming it a heinous crime, the court convicted the accused and awarded the sentence.
