The first day of trial in the rape and murder of 7-year-old Hasini in Chennai began on a stormy note, with main accused Dhasvanth asking the court to do away with the trial and getting reprimanded by the court, as per a report in The Times of India.
The 23-year-old mechanical engineer wrote a six-page letter to the judge where he acknowledged his guilt and asked the court to dismiss the trial. The case came up for hearing on Monday before Chengalpet Mahila court special judge P Velmurugan, who rejected the letter by declaring that the accused “could not play with the courts”.
He further directed Dhasvanth to communicate with the court through his lawyer.
"Dhasvanth said in the letter that television channels, newspapers and social media had painted a monstrous picture of him and he begged the judge to end his suffering. He admitted to the crime and pleaded with the judge to do away with a trial,” a source at the trial told TOI.
The victim’s parents arrived in court at 10.30am and half an hour later, Dhasvanth was brought in handcuffed. After his handcuffs were removed, he was taken to the courtroom for in-camera proceedings, with only the judge, lawyers, witnessed and the accused present in the room.
As the trial began at 11.30am, Dhasvanth handed over a letter to a court staff member, which was reportedly signed by a Puzhal jail official.
The proceedings came to a close at 5pm.
The next hearing is scheduled for December 20, when more witnesses will be examined, the report says.
Police officers who probed the case said that Dhasvanth lured the child to his house, before sexually assaulting and killing her.
The case made out by the prosecution will be that Dhasvanth stuffed the body in a gunny bag after the murder and disposed it in an isolated spot near the southern suburb of Anakaputhur, an investigating officer told ToI.
He later returned to the spot and set fire to the body, disfiguring it beyond recognition.
Just last week, Dhasvanth reportedly confessed to killing his mother and told police that he had planned to murder his father too. He was upset at not getting money from his parents and had decided to kill them a few weeks ago.