Asseem Shaikh, TNN | Mar 18, 2012, 06.54AM IST
PUNE: Principal district and sessions judge Anant Badar on Saturday held a cab driver and his friend guilty in the 2007 rape and murder of BPO employee Jyotikumari Chaudhari. The punishment will be decided on Monday.
Driver Purshottam Borate (30) and Pradeep Kokade (24) were charged with criminal conspiracy, murder, gang rape and misappropriation of property.
The convicts stepped into the witness box with folded hands and pleaded with the judge to take a lenient view while awarding them punishment as they were the sole earners in their families.
They said they were falsely implicated in the case. The judge told them that the prosecution had proved the charges against them and they could raise the issue before the high court.
Defence lawyer Atul Patil sought minimum punishment - life imprisonment - considering the financial status of the convicts. Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, however, quoted a Supreme Court ruling and prayed that the prosecution and the accused be given reasonable opportunity to argue the sentence.
Borate and Kokade, had picked up Jyotikumari from her sister's residence at Pashan in Pune around 10.30 pm on November 1, 2007. She was on night shift. Instead of taking her to the office at Hinjewadi, they took her to Gahunge village in Talegaon Dabhade, about 35 km from Pune, along the Pune-Mumbai Expressway.
In an inebriated condition, they raped Jyotikumari at Gahunge. Despite her pleas to not kill her and assurances that she would not reveal their names, Borate and his friend strangulated her before smashing her head with a heavy stone. They also snatched her ornaments and mobile phone and dumped her body before fleeing.
Jyotikumari, a BSc graduate, was working as an associate with the BPO since December 4, 2006. Her family is from UP's Gorakhpur and currently lives in Delhi. She was staying with her sister, who was married, at Pashan. Prosecution had examined 27 witnesses in the case.
Link: Cab driver, friend guilty in Pune BPO staffer’s murder
Driver Purshottam Borate (30) and Pradeep Kokade (24) were charged with criminal conspiracy, murder, gang rape and misappropriation of property.
The convicts stepped into the witness box with folded hands and pleaded with the judge to take a lenient view while awarding them punishment as they were the sole earners in their families.
They said they were falsely implicated in the case. The judge told them that the prosecution had proved the charges against them and they could raise the issue before the high court.
Defence lawyer Atul Patil sought minimum punishment - life imprisonment - considering the financial status of the convicts. Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, however, quoted a Supreme Court ruling and prayed that the prosecution and the accused be given reasonable opportunity to argue the sentence.
Borate and Kokade, had picked up Jyotikumari from her sister's residence at Pashan in Pune around 10.30 pm on November 1, 2007. She was on night shift. Instead of taking her to the office at Hinjewadi, they took her to Gahunge village in Talegaon Dabhade, about 35 km from Pune, along the Pune-Mumbai Expressway.
In an inebriated condition, they raped Jyotikumari at Gahunge. Despite her pleas to not kill her and assurances that she would not reveal their names, Borate and his friend strangulated her before smashing her head with a heavy stone. They also snatched her ornaments and mobile phone and dumped her body before fleeing.
Jyotikumari, a BSc graduate, was working as an associate with the BPO since December 4, 2006. Her family is from UP's Gorakhpur and currently lives in Delhi. She was staying with her sister, who was married, at Pashan. Prosecution had examined 27 witnesses in the case.
Link: Cab driver, friend guilty in Pune BPO staffer’s murder
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