Security guard murdered Pallavi Purkayastha: Court
1 July 2014 12:09 AM GMT
The security guard of the housing society in Mumbai, where young lawyer Pallavi Purkayastha was brutally murdered in her own home in 2012, has been held guilty by a trial court. A session’s court on Monday held the accused Sajjad Mughal guilty in the murder case.
The quantum of punishment would be decided on 3 July. The 25-year-old advocate was murdered in her apartment in central Mumbai on 9 August, 2012. Within 24 hours, Sajjad Mughal, the building’s security guard, was arrested. Mughal is said to have killed Pallavi when she resisted his advances. Pallavi’s fiancé, Avik Sengupta, who lived with her, had found her body in a pool of blood. He died of an illness on 14 November last year. He was a crucial witness and had testified in the case.
The case had shocked the metropolis known to be safe for women. A trail of blood on the corridor outside her flat and on her neighbours’ doorbell was evidence that she tried to escape from her killer and get help before being dragged back in, said an agency report. Sajjad Ahmed Pathan, 22, silently nodded in court as a judge read out charges under which he faces life in jail or death penalty. Pallavi’s mother Sumita Purkayastha, fighting tears, said, ‘Our daughter died this way. She was everything to us. (Sajjad) deserves nothing less than death.’
The quantum of punishment would be decided on 3 July. The 25-year-old advocate was murdered in her apartment in central Mumbai on 9 August, 2012. Within 24 hours, Sajjad Mughal, the building’s security guard, was arrested. Mughal is said to have killed Pallavi when she resisted his advances. Pallavi’s fiancé, Avik Sengupta, who lived with her, had found her body in a pool of blood. He died of an illness on 14 November last year. He was a crucial witness and had testified in the case.
The case had shocked the metropolis known to be safe for women. A trail of blood on the corridor outside her flat and on her neighbours’ doorbell was evidence that she tried to escape from her killer and get help before being dragged back in, said an agency report. Sajjad Ahmed Pathan, 22, silently nodded in court as a judge read out charges under which he faces life in jail or death penalty. Pallavi’s mother Sumita Purkayastha, fighting tears, said, ‘Our daughter died this way. She was everything to us. (Sajjad) deserves nothing less than death.’
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