On Wednesday, the Telangana High Court upheld a lower court's death sentence for Dinesh Kumar Dharne, convicted of the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl in Hyderabad. The high court dismissed Dharne's appeal, agreeing with the Metropolitan Sessions Court's 2021 ruling that the case was among the "rarest of rare."

In December 2017, Dharne, a migrant worker from Madhya Pradesh, lured the victim, the daughter of a Bihar couple, with chocolates before taking her to a secluded area in Narsingi. There, he raped her and, fearing she would report the assault, killed her. Dharne, then 23, was known to the girl's parents, as they worked at the same construction site.

The girl went missing while playing outside her hut, and Dharne initially claimed he had taken her back to the site. The police investigation, prompted by the parents' report, led to Dharne's confession. He was charged under Sections 363, 366, 376(A), and 302 of the IPC and the POCSO Act.

The 2021 death sentence by the Metropolitan Sessions Court in Ranga Reddy was the first such penalty in the Cyberabad Commissionerate since its inception in 2003 and marked the first death sentence from the Ranga Reddy district court in over 30 years. The ruling was praised by then Commissioner V.C. Sajjanar as a landmark judgment, underscoring the strength of the case against Dharne.