A special CBI court on Friday convicted Rahul Raj, a resident of Bihar’s Nalanda district, of raping and murdering a 19-year old BTech student at her home in Booty Bustee under Sadar police station of the Jharkhand capital on December 15, 2016.

The court will fix the quantum of punishment after hearing the the prosecution and the defence’s arguments on Saturday.

On the recommendation of the state government, the CBI had taken over the probe from Ranchi police and lodged an FIR on March 28 last year.

“Our investigation led this case to a logical conclusion,” a senior CBI official said. “In June this year, we arrested Rahul. On September 13, the CBI submitted a charge sheet and charges were framed on October 25 this year. A total of 30 witnesses were examined. Prosecution could not produce any evidence or witness. The final argument was concluded two days back and the court convicted him today (Friday). We are happy that the victim got justice.”

The engineering student of RTC Institute of Technology, Ormanjhi, was found dead in the morning at her home.

She had been stripped, her face and torso were charred, a wire noose gripped her neck and there was blood in her private parts.

The post-mortem report revealed that she was murdered after being raped.

The CBI official said man’s DNA was found from vaginal swab and nail clippings of the victim.

“Our investigation revealed that Rahul was living in a room close to the victim’s house around two-three months before the murder and disappeared right after the murder. He was identified as a resident of Dhurgaon in Nalanda district of Bihar. His parents, Umesh Prasad and Nilima Devi, were examined and their blood samples were taken for a DNA test,” the CBI official added.

Rahul’s DNA matched with the samples collected from the body of the victim.

“It was found that the suspect was a habitual criminal with a number of cases pending against him. He was facing trial at Patna court for raping a minor and had escaped from police custody. He had come to Ranchi and was living under aliases. While we were looking for him, we came to know that he was lodged in Lucknow jail for another case. We secured his production warrant,” the official said.

Scanning of the call detail records of the area where the accused lived helped the CBI crack the case.

“The convict was using a mobile phone that he switched off a day before the crime because he feared that Bihar police might detect his number. We found that his number was no more active in the area. That was a vital clue for us,” the officialsaid.

The father of the deceased, an employee of CMPDI in Ramgarh and a resident of

Silli, expressed his satisfaction over the judgment. “I request the court to give him death sentence,” he said.

Rahul was provided legal assistance by District Legal Services Authority which nominated senior lawyer Vinod Kumar Singh. “Charges were framed against him under Sections 302 (murder), 376 (rape), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) and 449 (house trespass),” Singh said.