Pune: Kopardi rape-murder case convict commits suicide in Yerawada jail

Pune: Jitendra Shinde, one of the three death row convicts in the sensational Kopardi rape-murder case of 2016, on Sunday allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in Yerawada Jail here in Maharashtra, police said.

The incident came to light when the jail police went on patrol in the morning.

The body was found hanging in the jail barrack with the initial police findings pointing to suicide.

Senior officials have reached the spot after receiving information.

Shinde was the prime accused in the July 13, 2016 brutal gangrape and murder of the minor girl in Kopardi village of Ahmednagar district when she was returning home on a bicycle from her grandfather's house. The girl's body had injury marks all over, and her limbs and teeth were broken.

The barbarity of the crime shook the entire state in 2016, as protests erupted across the state with demands for exemplary punishment of the culprits..

Shinde was the first suspect to be arrested by police from shrigonda in Ahmedabad for his involvement in the crime. Two others were later taken into custody.

A special fast-track court specially set up for the trial of the case awarded the death sentence to all three accused on November 29, 2017. (UNI)