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A death-row convict in the sensational July 2016 Kopardi gang-rape and murder of a minor girl died by suicide on Sunday.
The deceased was identified as Jitendra Babulal Shinde alias Pappu (32), convict no, C-17744.
Jitendra was found hanging in his cell in the prison.
The body has been sent for post-mortem. The Yerawada Central Jail authorities have confirmed the incident.
Jitendra was undergoing treatment for mental health issues.
Following the gang-rape and murder of the minor girl on July 13, 2016, at Kopardi in Ahmednagar district - nearly 300 kms away from Mumbai - there were widespread protests.
There were also a series of rallies, known as Maratha Kranti Morchas, in which the two main demands were reservations for the Maratha community and capital punishment for the accused in the Kopardi case, among other things.
On November 29, 2017, three accused from the Dalit community -- Jitendra alias Pappu Babulal Shinde and two others Santosh Gorkha Bhawal and Nitin Gopinath Bhailume – were sentenced to death.
The 14-year-old schoolgirl, a student of class IX, was found dead with her badly mutilated, blood-splattered body under a tree in a field. She was gang-raped by at least three persons, her teeth and arms were broken and she was strangulated.
This incident is often compared to the 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape case of Delhi because of the brutality.