Amaravati,  A special court in Andhra Pradesh on Friday sentenced a youth to death for killing an engineering student for rejecting his advances. The court in Guntur district pronounced the verdict, sentencing 20-year-old K. Sasi Krishna to death.

The accused had stabbed a B. Tech student to death in broad daylight on Independence Day last year in Guntur city.

The incident, which was captured on CCTV camera, had triggered massive public outrage and the state government had set up a special court for speedy trial of the case.

The court treated it as the rarest of rare cases and pronounced the death sentence. The court also observed that the accused showed no remorse and even attempted to escape from court during the hearing.

The girl's parents hailed the verdict saying this has given them a sense of closure. They said those committing such heinous crimes deserve death penalty. They said what happened to their daughter should not happen to any other girl.

The third-year-student of B. Tech, was brutally killed by Krishna, who had come in touch with her over a social media platform.

Krishna has started stalking her and demanding her love. As she had been keeping a distance from the youth, he got enraged and threatened to kill her.

On August 15, 2021, when she was standing near an eatery, he came there and had a heated argument. He then stabbed her in the throat and stomach six times, killing her on the spot even as people standing around watched in horror.

After the murder, Krishna escaped from the scene. Police identified the assailant with the CCTV footage of the incident. When the police traced him and went to arrest him, he tried to commit suicide by cutting his hand. Police, however, foiled his attempt.

The killing of the girl student had sent shock waves across the state. Women's groups and opposition parties had staged protests demanding stringent punishment to the offender.

Krishna, who studied up to Class 8, had worked as a mechanic in an automobile shop earlier and was unemployed when he committed the offence.