Malegaon court awards death sentence to man convicted of raping, murdering 4-year-old girl

A Malegaon court on Friday sentenced Vijay Khairnar to death for the sexual assault and murder of a four-year-old girl in Dongrale village in Maharashtra's Nashik district in November 2025, with the court terming the crime a ‘rarest of rare’ case.

Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said the court had considered the gravity of the crime and the circumstantial evidence establishing Khairnar’s involvement while deciding the sentence. The court did not consider the convict’s poverty and illiteracy as grounds for leniency, he said.

“The prosecution examined 24 witnesses during the trial. The judgment runs into 225 pages. Along with the intensity of the crime, there was circumstantial evidence to establish his involvement,” Nikam said.

He added that the prosecution hoped the Bombay high court and the Supreme Court would dispose of the case expeditiously so that the sentence could be carried out.

The case relates to the incident on November 16, 2025, when the girl went missing while playing near her home in Dongrale village in Malegaon taluka. Her body was subsequently found in a nullah near a mobile tower. Investigators alleged that Khairnar, then 24, lured the child with chocolate before sexually assaulting and killing her.

Khairnar, a daily-wage worker and resident of the area, was arrested on the day of the incident. The prosecution relied on circumstantial evidence, DNA test results and other material to establish his involvement, despite the absence of direct eyewitnesses or CCTV footage.

A chargesheet was filed on January 26, 2026, and the case was heard by a fast-track court. The court accepted the prosecution's case and convicted Khairnar before sentencing him to death on Friday.

The death sentence will be subject to confirmation by the Bombay high court, as required by law.