A Pune sessions court has convicted a Chakan resident for the 2016 murder of a four-year-old boy, holding that the prosecution established a complete chain of circumstantial evidence proving the child was smothered to death before his body was concealed in a water tank inside the accused’s house.The judgment, delivered on July 3, relates to the murder of the minor, who went missing from his home in Chakan on April 5, 2016. (REPRESENTATIVE PIC)Additional sessions judge AS Sayyad of the Khed-Rajgurunagar court sentenced Sachin Dattatraya Pingale to life imprisonment for murder under Section 302 of the IPC and three years’ rigorous imprisonment under Section 201 for causing the disappearance of evidence. Both sentences will run concurrently. The court also imposed a fine of ₹30,000.The judgment, delivered on July 3, relates to the murder of the minor, who went missing from his home in Chakan on April 5, 2016. His body was later recovered from an underground water tank inside Pingale’s bedroom.Calling it “an unfortunate and very painful incident”, the court held that the child died due to smothering and that the accused concealed the body in the water tank to screen the crime.According to the prosecution, Pingale, allegedly under the influence of alcohol, visited the victim’s house with his minor daughter. Despite the mother’s refusal, the daughter took the child to their house. When the boy did not return, the family searched for him but was repeatedly misled by the accused and his daughter. Neighbours eventually entered the house and found the child’s body inside the water tank.As there was no eyewitness, the court relied on circumstantial evidence, including testimony from the child’s family, neighbours, the investigating officer and the doctor who conducted the post-mortem.The autopsy concluded that the cause of death was “asphyxia due to smothering”, ruling out accidental drowning. The court accepted the medical evidence and rejected the defence’s claim that the child had accidentally fallen into the tank.The judge noted that Pingale obstructed neighbours from searching the house, prevented them from opening the water tank and failed to explain how the child’s body was found inside his bedroom.Rejecting the defence’s arguments regarding the absence of motive and alleged lapses in the investigation, the court held that the prosecution had proved the case beyond reasonable doubt through an unbroken chain of circumstances.While refusing to show leniency during sentencing, the court observed that “a four-year-old innocent child without any fault lost his life” and said an inadequate sentence would undermine public confidence in the justice system.