Supreme Court stays death sentence in Ranchi student rape-murder case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the death sentence of 30-year-old Rahul Raj, alias Rocky Raj, convicted in the sensational 2016 rape and murder case of a 19-year-old BTech student in Jharkhand's Ranchi.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant, Pankaj Mittal, and Ujjwal Bhuiyan directed the submission of records from the lower court and the Jharkhand High Court for further review.

Dubbed Ranchi's "Nirbhaya case," the incident occurred on December 15-16, 2016, when the victim, a student at Ranchi's RTC Institute, was alone at her Buti Basti residence. Rahul Raj, a known criminal residing in the same locality, followed her home, broke in, raped her, strangled her with a wire, and set her body on fire using mobile oil. He then fled from the scene of the crime.

The crime sparked widespread outrage in Ranchi, leading to protests for several days. The case was finally handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The agency questioned 300 individuals, eventually identifying Rahul Raj, a resident of Bihar's Nalanda through call records. It was later discovered that he was already in Lucknow jail on separate rape charges.

The investigating agency took the sample of traces of the victim’s DNA and matched it with that of the accused's mother. The DNA matched which provided clinching evidence to the investigating agency.

Rahul Raj, during interrogation, allegedly confessed to the crime. The CBI later filed a detailed charge sheet.

In December 2019, a Ranchi CBI court found Rahul guilty of rape and murder and sentenced him to death as the judge found the case under the rarest-of-rare category. This sentence was upheld by the Jharkhand High Court in September 2024.

Now the Supreme Court has stayed the implementation of the death penalty pending further review.

The state government had appealed for the confirmation of the death sentence, while the convict had sought to overturn the lower court’s decision.