A court in Wardha district pronounced the 'guilty' verdict on the prime accused in the sensational incident in which a young woman lecturer was doused with petrol and burnt by her spurned suitor on a road outside her college in Hinganghat town two years ago, a top law officer said here on Wednesday.
"The Court has found the prime accused Vikesh Nagrale guilty of the offences committed two years ago. As per the Supreme Court orders, the quantum of punishment will be argued tomorrow after which the court will deliver its final verdict," Special Public Prosecutor (SSP) Ujjwal Nikam told media persons.
On February 3, 2020, the victim Ankita Pissude, 24, was stalked by Nagrale, 27, from her home to workplace, the MAK Mahila College, Hinganghat, where he committed the heinous crime in full public view, shaking the conscience of the people of Maharashtra.
Sustaining severe burns, the victim was rushed to a Nagpur hospital where she succumbed on February 10, sparking outrage all over the state, a month before the Coronavirus pandemic lockdown was clamped in the country.
The attacker was arrested hours later and subsequently charged with murder and the case was assigned to a Fast Track Court in Hinganghat with the prosecution demanding the death penalty for Nagrale.
After the investigations, the Wardha Police had filed a 426-page charge sheet, 29 witnesses were examined during 64 hearings held in the past two years of the pandemic lockdown.
Interestingly, not a single witness turned hostile during the trial and the verdict will come exactly two years after Ankita Pissude's demise (February 10, 2020), in the prosecution charge directed by SPP Nikam.
However, the accused Nagrale denied all the allegations, including that he had attacked or set afire the victim.
The ghastly incident echoed twice in Parliament and was strongly condemned by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Maha Vikas Aghadi partners, women, youth and social groups.
