TAMIL NADU

23-yr-old techie convicted for rape, murder of 7-year-old

Child Sexual Abuse Dhaswant used a puppy to lure Hasini into his house

The Chengalpet court on February 19, convicted 23-year-old techie Dhaswanth in the rape and murder of seven-year-old Hasini in Chennai. The court held Dhaswanth guilty on all charges including those under POCSO.

Dhaswant had raped, murdered and burnt the body of little Hasini in February 2017. Later, while out on bail, he murdered his own mother Sarala for money and jewellery and fled. Dhaswanth, however, expressed guilt in the court.

Dhaswant was a mechanical engineer and lived next to Hasini’s apartment. He had brought home a puppy five months before the incident. The puppy was used to lure the children in the apartment complex to his house. According to police report, he lured Hasini into his apartment and suffocated her after raping her. He then put the body in a travel bag, and burnt it on the highway using petrol, according to the Chennai police report.

A few days after the murder, the Chennai police cracked the case and Dhaswant was arrested under the Goondas Act. A case was registered by Chennai’s Mangadu police. Around 34witnesses were cross examined by the court. However, after hearing a bail petition filed by Dhaswant’s father, the Mahila Court in Chengalpet let him out on bail in September last year. He had also filed a habeas corpus petition with the Madras High Court. As the police failed to file the chargesheet in the case within the stipulated 90-day period, the Madras High Court quashed his detention.

On December 2, within three months of his release, Dhaswant, who was residing with his parents at their home in Kundrathur, killed his mother Sarala and fled with her jewellery to Mumbai. Dhaswant was again arrested by the Chennai police on December 6. But Dhaswant managed a dramatic escape from the police custody, in Mumbai. He was later nabbed by a special team in Mumbai.

Dhaswant wrote to Judge P Velmurugan accepting his guilt in a six-page letter. However, when the case came up for hearing before the Chengalpet Mahila Court, Judge Velmurugan rejected the letter, declaring that Dhaswant “could not play with the courts. You can communicate with the court only through your lawyer.”